Queerbaiting: using the promise of Queer fan-pairings or Queer characters to lure in a Queer audience without any intention to follow through for the sake of financial gain.

(Relation)ship-baiting: teasing a fan-favorite pairing, Queer or not, to an invested audience without any intention to develop that relationship into romance.

A show/movie/studio can Queerbait without Ship-baiting.

A show/movie/studio can Ship-bait without Queerbaiting.

Learning the distinction between the two is important because—similar to people who use the word "problematic" to describe both Pedophilia and not tipping waiters—no one will take you serious if you don't. You cannot reasonably accuse a show of Queerbaiting when they already have multiple Queer main characters because they are not "teasing" you with Queer representation. They have already followed through on delivering Queer representation because to do so was their intention all along. But you can accuse a show/movie/studio of Ship-baiting when they dangle the promise of a canon relationship in front of you like a carrot on a stick, and subsequently do not deliver.

Both are bad, but different "levels" of bad correlate with different responses, hence why some people get a ticket for jaywalking and some people go to jail for murder.

It's the same principle.

Queerbaiting is cruel and manipulative, designed to target a vulnerable, marginalized audience, and has real-world implications surrounding the refusal to make Queerness visible at the very least, and accepted at the very most. Queerbaiting should be responded to with targeted, intentional fury—not through death threats, but by making it abundantly clear to The Powers That Be (and all those watching)—that toying with Queer audiences is not acceptable.

Ship-baiting is also cruel, but in a different way. Ship-baiting targets a specific group of people (both Queer and Heterosexual, as fandom has always been filled with Straight people too) and does not have any real-world implications beyond ruining your day/week/year. Anger is an acceptable reaction here, but expressing dismay—again, not through death threats—is not the same as accusing an entity/showrunner/etc of an ethical crime.

Please learn the difference.

Fandom (as a collective) has a lot of inherent problems—including but not limited to Racism, Queerphobia, Xenophobia, and more—but I genuinely believe some of the most intelligent, creative, talented, and revolutionary minds that could change the entire face of the Entertainment industry exist here. We deserve to demand respect, and we deserve to be taken seriously, because the more we sound like "unhinged fangirls" when things don't go our way, for whatever reason, the more The Powers That Be are going to treat us like we don't matter. The commodification of fandom was a huge mistake. We were brought into a spotlight that we were never intended to be in, and I don't think we've ever recovered from that. I'm not even sure most people realize this is something we need to recover from. But we can shift the tide in our favor, and that starts by learning the definitions of words and actually using them so that no one—especially not old, white men with power—has an excuse to brush off valid, Ethical concerns as "fandom drama."

Let's talk about character motivation for a minute.

This is something that's super duper important and also gets misunderstood a lot.

Characters in your stories should have motivation for their actions. They should want something, and have a reason for doing stuff that exists beyond, "If they didn't do this, the story couldn't progress."

This does NOT mean that the character's ambition needs to drive the story -- not every story is an epic quest! Sometimes the thing the character wants is go have a nice pleasant nap and people keep bothering them and that is frankly a very relatable conflict. But they gotta want something.

Likewise, your character's motivation does not need to make logical sense as in, "This is a smart thing to do." It just needs to make believable emotional sense for the character you've introduced. Humans do things that are illogical all the time. We self-sabotage, make short-sighted decisions, ignore consequences, etc., usually because it fulfills an emotional need in the moment. Characters are like that, too. But the reader needs to be able to believe those emotions, which means you need to convey them clearly and compellingly.

So, remember, here's the formula:

1 - What does your character want?

2 - What's on the line if they do/don't get it?

3 - What's stopping them from getting what they want?

You gotta keep these questions front-and-center in your mind as you develop your character for your story, to make sure that they match the plot you're trying to work out.

On Not Writing

Hi! I'm back. i had a fun two days of doing absolutely nothing writing related, including scrolling this blog. Wife and I played a lot of Valheim. Took a lot of bike rides. Watched Interstellar for the first time - pretty good, kind of silly at the end. It was my first two-day weekend in probably three months, so it was much-needed, hard as it was.

And it got me thinking of some things I wanted to say to the community here. It's especially targeted towards younger writers, of which I used to be one, but I think it can apply to anyone who finds themselves despairing over how much they aren't writing.

Let's imagine you're sitting with me in this coffee shop. It's an overcast Portland morning and I just inadvertently vivisected a croissant. And as we sip our drinks (I ordered a lavender latte), you lament to me. I don't know what to do, Clove. I just haven't been writing!

You know what I say to that?

Good.

This is a new hot take of mine that I, once again, worry about upsetting people with. Because I see a lot of guides here about how to write, or how to write consistently, or how to write through writers block. But I haven't seen a single person talking about the inverse - how to not write. Or - perhaps more accurately - how to exist as a human being separate from your identity as a writer.

This is a problem for me.

Listen - I started young. I was 12 when I wrote my first novella, and 13 when I completed my first novel the next year. Adults in my life were impressed by the big-eyed child writing so many words. They encouraged me. I wrote two more novels, and they continued to encourage me. Because of the potential, right? I could be successful. I could be famous.

People stopped pushing me to try other things. I saw I was getting validation as a writer, so that only pushed me to continue fixating over something I was already enjoying and getting pretty good at. Dad had me writing two thousand words every day, because that's what Stephen King did. At 16 I finished four full-length novels, which everyone thought was really cool and interesting. I was also sporting dual hand braces every day throughout the winter to cope with the carpal tunnel I still struggle with to this day.

There is encouraging a person in their passion. There is also poisoning them with the belief that their self-worth comes from pursuing that passion. This is entirely, absolutely, even more true for younger writers and artists.

I am enraged for the young writer in my heart and in my head. Because they worried about a lot of the same things I see people worry about on here. Oh, if I don't write I'm not a writer! And to an extent they're right, as to be a writer you need to at some point write some stuff.

But here's the fucking thing, Young Clover - a child should not strive for the work ethic of a professional adult. You did not need to write 2k words a day to be a writer. You were a writer as soon as you updated that terrible Invader Zim fanfiction you wrote when you were 10.

And more than that, though, the most important thing to a person should not be their job and aspirations. If you don't write every day, you're still a writer. If you've never written anything, you aren't - and that's fine. You might write something later down the line, or you might not. Either way you are still entitled to exist on the planet and capable of living a full and passionate and wonderful life.

Hear my words: being a writer is not more important than being a human being.

If you aren't writing right now, maybe you're not supposed to be. Maybe you're meant to be nurturing your relationships, or nurturing yourself. Maybe you're supposed to be volunteering. Or meeting new people. Or gaining a new field of knowledge. Or getting really good at making focaccia bread. Or watching every Mark Wahlberg movie.

I don't like to hear this any more than you do. If I was told that I, for some reason, was not allowed to write for the rest of my life, I would be miserable for maybe a long time. After that passed it's my hope that I would move on and do other things, because my worth is not dependent on being a writer. I like doing it. I like being it, and I hope to be one for the rest of my life. But I never want it to be the first thing people see when they look at me. I don't even like bringing it up in conversation with people I don't already know.

So yeah, if you have "writer's block", maybe consider putting down the pickaxe and getting some rest. Step away entirely from the large boulder that stands between you being the next Stephen King or Brandon Sanderson or Teen Dystopia Writer no. 2321. Take a break, and I mean an ACTUAL break, not the kind where you spend the whole time sulking about work.

I am legitimately begging the writers on here to have developed lives and interests outside of writing. I am begging because I do not have that and it has consistently been one of the hardest things of my life.

You prioritize living outside your writing and it will improve the quality of your writing when you get back to it, as it'll allow you a frame of reference that extends beyond our niche industry. Or it might make you realize that, while you enjoy writing, what you really love is ceramics. Or game developing. Or mutual-aid activism. Or the movies of Mark Wahlberg.

It is not your job to treat yourself like you already have a dozen deadlines and an audience teetering on the edge of disappointment. That's ultimately not going to help you. Your job on this earth is to exist fully, for the sake of the universe that wants so desperately to live vicariously through you.

So breathe. Breathe and calm down. You aren't a failure and there's nothing you have to prove. All you have to do today is drink some water and have a nice snack while you look at a cloud.

Please be kind. All of us need to be kinder to each other and to ourselves.

That's all I want to say. I love you dearly. Please let me know if you need anything.

Hi! Since you have a Discord server, could you share some tips for both moderating and keeping the space active and free of toxicity? I am thinking of creating my own for a micro-comunnity, but I have no idea where to start (especially what basic action protocols to follow of someone breaks a rule or is reported as abusive in DMs and there isn't much concrete proof).

Thanks in advance. ;-)

Ooh, yes, this shit is my bread & butter! Here's the advice I'd give someone creating a new community Discord space:

Start with a very clear idea of what the space is for.

This is your reasoning for every single expectation you set & rule you enforce. If you cannot explain to someone why a rule exists, you shouldn't have that rule- and you probably won't have an easy time enforcing it anyway.

Ask yourself some questions upfront: is this a space for bonding over a shared interest? Is this a space for building community around a marginalized identity or experience? Why? Who does it benefit, and how does it benefit those people?

The transmasc discord server I run started as a space to build community for transmascs who could not talk about transmasc issues elsewhere, and is therefore a space for discussion of these issues first, a space to build community for a group that faces a lot of isolation second, and everything else third.

Ask yourself: what is this space not for?

Now that you know what your goal is, it should be easier to determine what is in conflict with your goal. If you're a fandom space, you should be asking things like: do you need a vent channel? Why? What level of venting is okay? How will you tell someone in crisis that this is not an appropriate place to seek help? (Or applied to other situations: do you need this? Does it serve your goal? How? Is there a line or a nuance you should clarify? How practical is it to enforce this line?)

Think about your role as server owner

Server owners have a lot of de-facto power, because that's how Discord is set up, like, functionally. Think about the worst server owners you have ever encountered, and ask: what could have prevented those servers from disaster? People make bad decisions without realizing how bad they are, and it sucks. And, frankly, communities shouldn't necessarily belong to just one person.

What is your responsibility to your community? How can you share your power with them? What can you commit to in order to mitigate that power imbalance?

I have some commitments in place within my server along the lines of like... we make decisions on the basis of consensus (if someone really disagrees, we talk about it and, if needed, figure out a different solution; we don't go with "majority rules", and I don't veto or whatever). If there's consensus among the rest of the server staff that I should step down, I will step down. Stuff like that. My staff know these things, which keeps me (and them!) accountable.

You should think about the role of staff in a similar way; they have power over users. How can you mitigate that power? How can you share it with users? What happens if a staff member abuses their power?

Start small.

Unless you have a massive following ready to join your new server right away, you're gonna be pretty small for a long time. Embrace it! Small servers have the benefit of tight-knit communities and a lot of flexibility; you can make changes super easily, and you can be really responsive to your community. Let them tell you what they want and need, and invite them into the process of shaping the space together.

I really recommend that you start with the bare minimum, and add new rules, channels, staff, etc. as the need comes up organically. This gives you lots of room to think and discuss, and it means everything you add is tailored to the actual people that make up your community.

To use my own server as an example again: we had like five channels when we started, and adding each new channel has been a conversation about why we're adding it, whether we can fit that topic into a different channel or if it's getting overcrowded, how it impacts the server atmosphere (heavy/negative channels really add up!), etc. Which means they're generally, like, not completely unnecessary and unused.

Think about scaling

As you gain more members, you'll need more staff (and more staff time), more infrastructure, and more consistency. There's no one perfect way to do this, but I want to name it because I think it's good to keep in mind; I've seen big servers who try to act like small servers and end up chaotic and under-moderated, and small servers who try to act like big servers and end up drowning in their own (completely unnecessary!) red tape.

Rule enforcement

I recommend having a blanket policy of "we reserve the right to kick you out if it's obvious that you're not here with good or honest intentions". Don't try to litigate every little thing with every single person; if they're not there because they wanna be a part of the community you've made, there's absolutely no obligation to entertain their bullshit. Being upfront about this cuts out a lot of "but I didn't technically break a rule!", and "explain to me exactly why you're doing this so I can argue it to death!" nonsense from bad actors.

I also recommend a blanket policy of "infinite honest mistake forgiveness". People forget, slip up, whatever; don't stress about it. Give them a reminder or a heads up and move on.

For the stuff in the middle, you'll figure out what systems work for you. I prefer DMing people about things; being specific, transparent, and offering support does wonders for most issues. Name some clear expectations if you're noticing patterns, and ask what you can do to help them meet those expectations. Assume they didn't mean to do any harm, and that they want to get better. Even if that's not the case, most people will rise to that assumption if given the opportunity (and if they don't, you can kick 'em then).

Encourage a self-regulating community

Do not get involved in petty bullshit!! If someone has an issue with someone else, your first step is always to ask yourself: is this something staff need to take care of, or could this be resolved with a conversation between these two people?

Oftentimes, even a broken rule is something people can sort out themselves. If someone forgot a rule or made an honest mistake, there is literally no reason that it needs to be you or other server staff telling them so. Encourage people to talk to each other! You will save yourself so much grief (and petty drama, and serious conflict) in the long-run if your community can talk to each other like humans.

Encourage people to set their own personal boundaries, too! If they have a unique trigger or a particular need, encourage them to communicate that need to other people. This also allows people to negotiate their own solutions to conflicting access needs, and prevents staff from "taking sides".

As a bonus, this will also make it super clear when someone is just an asshole.

Maintain the vibe!

Don't try to duke problems out in the middle of the server! It sucks, everyone hates it, and the people that don't hate it love it for all the wrong reasons. Drama breeds more drama, and toxicity breeds more toxicity.

I recommend telling people exactly where to take their disagreements, discontent, and emotional outbursts. My personal policy is: if you can't have a productive conversation or offer everyone else basic respect, you need to step back and cool off until you can. if you have personal beef with someone else, you can either talk it out in DMs, let it go, or block them and move on. If you disagree with a rule or how a rule is being enforced, you still need to listen to staff, but you can (and should!) bring that up in the appropriate channels to discuss for the next time it comes up.

We have the "ticket tool" bot- which is great for when one person wants to argue about stuff like that- and an "office" channel for all kinds of administrative-y suggestions, questions, discussions, etc. which is great for respectful disagreements/discussions. I recommend using Discord's "Time Out" feature to mute people if they won't respect a staff request to pause or step back, and even removing everyone's ability to post in a channel if it's getting rancid & you need to buy some time to figure out exactly what's happening and how to handle it. (Let people know what's going on when you do this, though!)

This is maybe the biggest thing for keeping a server active and not toxic, tbh. People do not want to spend time in a space that sucks! And while it's vital to make space for conflict to happen, that space doesn't need to be the same one that everyone else is trying to share art of their blorbos in. And that conflict should never be abusive.

(Note: not all disagreements are conflicts, and not all conflicts necessarily need to be stopped or moved! This is generalized advice; there's a lot of gray area, and you'll get a feel for it over time if you don't already have a clear idea.)

TL;DR:

Be thoughtful and intentional about exactly what you're trying to do and why. Be responsive and responsible to your community. Have as much patience & forgiveness for earnest people as you refuse to have for ill-intentioned people. Don't be afraid to draw hard lines in order to protect the space for everyone when you need to, and encourage people to talk to each other, enforce their own boundaries, and help keep each other accountable in kind and compassionate ways.

I think this sounds very big and grand because I have run a lot of servers and I am also drawing on some educational philosophy background, but like, all you really need to do is start with a clear purpose and go from there. You can be flexible and make changes as stuff comes up, and focus on having fun with the process and the community you're creating!

Good luck!!

Three Techniques Sukuna hasn't used yet

Finally we got the fire and the arrow(?) back, which makes this the third time that Sukuna uses his mysterious technique after Jogo and Makora. The good guys should've known about the fire though because Yuji gains Sukuna's memories after he gets back control of his body. He should've told everyone about this especially after he messed up protecting Megumi from Sukuna even though he knew about his future plans with him.

(Interestingly, Megumi has live-coverage of everything that Sukuna does unlike Yuji. That's probably because an awake Yuji would've immediate control over his body again. He can't be contained like Megumi.)

There are still (at least) 3 techniques though that Sukuna could use in the current fight. Cursed Technique Reversal, Hollow Technique and Maximum Technique.

Cursed Technique Reversal

For using CTR you need to meet two conditions. 1) being able to perform RCT to produce positive energy and 2) being able to channel that PE into your cursed technique to power it. (Sukuna can already channel his PE into others like Megumi.)

When Gojo uses it, he creates Red, the reversal of Blue, and when Kenjaku uses it he creates Gravity, the reversal of Anti-Gravity System. No other sorcerer than those two have been shown to be able to use CTR.

For Sukuna I can see him picking up his left hand that Maki cut off to attach it back to his arm: the reversal of his "cutting". "Glueing" so to speak. That would probably be easier for him right now than regrowing that hand.

Hollow Technique

Gojo has been the only sorcerer shown to us cabable of using the Hollow Technique, in his case Purple. For this he activates his technique with both PE and CE at the same time to combine Red and Blue. The push and pull abilities of Red and Blue create a virtual mass that destroys everything in its path.

The condition to use the Hollow Technique is concurrent usage of cursed and positive energy plus the ability to activate your technique with both at the same time.

Of note is that Gojo activated his last Purple one step at a time but that was only possible because Blue and Red can exist on their own for a certain period of time. Sukuna's Cleave and Dismantle are immediate attacks and can't do that.

Can Sukuna use HT though? Most likely because he can use PE and CE at the same time as he's been doing for a while now especially after being stabbed by Maki and her Split Soul Katana. But how would that look with his cutting and potential glueing? I have no idea. Maybe it would be sth like a creating impenetrable lines in the air like Dhruv's CT.

Maximum Technique

Uzumaki is the first technique that comes to mind here but Eso's Wing King and Jogo's Meteor are also among them. A MT is beside the Domain Expansion the ultimate expression of a cursed technique and jujutsu. Sukuna, who primes himself on the study of jujutsu, should be able to use this.

Now because MT encompasses and maxifies all aspects of a CT, it's logical why we haven't seen this until now. Most popular theory on Sukuna's fire is that it's part of his kitchen arsenal, in other words, we haven't seen his entire cursed technique yet or at least understood it in it's entire. After we're shown that, Sukuna's Maximum Technique becomes a reasonable concern that the heroes have to deal with.

It's aplatonic visibility day, so here's a rant I've had in me for a while. If you're not aware, aplatonic means I do not feel platonic attraction/platonic feelings/platonic connection.

Platonic is not a synonym for non-romantic. I understand why you all like to emphasize how Supernatural lifts a non-romantic relationship to the same level, if not higher, than romantic ones. That is indeed a unique and special thing. We should point that out for both ship and non-ship reasons. However. Platonic is not the word to use. Platonic specifically relationship between friends. Generally, platonic means the people involved aren't family. Platonic bonds are a very specific thing, not just the absence of romance.

I understand that this doesn't matter to a lot of you, but to me? I do not feel romantic feelings. I do not feel platonic feelings. I do feel familial feelings. There is a reason I have fallen so deeply into this show, and that reason is that early seasons Sam and Dean do not have friends. The relationship is exclusively familial (and sexual if you read it that way) and those are the two types of attraction I do have.

To be clear this is also not to throw any shade on the idea that Sam and Dean are in a QPR because that's just true. I just think we in the aspec community could stand to come up with a broader term for non-normative relationships that does not include the word platonic. As we currently stand, that does not exist, so yeah, QPR is a totally valid and correct and fine term to use and I don't have any problem with it.

But yeah. Platonic ≠ non-romantic, and I think just about any reading of Sam and Dean makes it obvious that they are not friends. They are brothers. They are potentially more. But they are not platonic.

Thank you from your local aplatonic wincestie, and I encourage you to read more about aplatonicism!

I vote for Argenti! I hope you feel better soon!

Thank you ! I do feel much better (though I admit I hurt a little for very much my fault reasons but it's mostly manageable through light pain meds).

Take an Argenti o7 I got lazy and didn't draw the roses I was gonna draw to the left so there is now a wide open blank spot.

tip: I am so fucking mad

awhile ago i made that one reverse 1999 x tma entities post and now that i think about it more i realized that those two pieces of media have something oddly specific in common (they are centered on a traumatized brit involved in an institution in which they must play a pivotal role that is Greater Than Themselves and also related to unnatural happenings. oh and the institution itself is responsible for inflicting this trauma upon them)

help this post has infected my brain i can't stop thinking about some journalist ex-colleague of trent's just watching the entirety of richmond's football team + several members of the staff (including ted lasso) scoop him up and sprint across the pitch holding him aloft. this has so much comedic potential. im just picturing so many different like. tableaus. jan maas giving an absolutely stoic trent crimm a piggyback ride. exact same position but it's jamie tartt and trent crimm appears to be pointing directly ahead as tartt cackles and charges. they topple over. dani rojas has elected to carry him bridal style for some reason. sam obinsanya, who was supposed to be one of the reasonable ones, follows his example. one of the players has trent fully sitting on his shoulders somehow and somehow they don't fall. both the participating coaches (ted and beard) simply throw him over their shoulder and book it. for one of them he appears to be laughing loudly for the other his arms are crossed and he is making such a pointed expression of grumpy tolerance (like a cat who has been picked up and is resigned to it but he's not gonna like it!) that it is clearly exaggerated. trent makes exactly one (1) attempt to carry someone else (it's roy) and he actually does fairly well considering but they do end up sprawled on the grass and just. roy flat on his back staring at the sky, trent having half pushed himself up on his elbows, hair a complete mess, laughing. they're all arguing about times. there are fans sitting in on practice who can Just See All This. like. you know how there's like bullshit nothing articles about dumb shit? just. some "article" that's like "richmond appear to be doing wife-carrying races as training for some reason, and even more bafflingly, trent crimm appears to be the wife in question. anyway here's our top twenty photos of this because it is funny and weirdly wholesome." and then it's all over twitter for like three days. trent's ex-wife is texting him like "babe why are you a meme now". keeleys like "good news this is great pr! bad news [sends trent a candid shot of ted scooping him up unexpectedly and trent very obviously blushing]" and trents like "ah." some of the photos are hilariously blurred in motion. they're pretty much all smiling. forget about the realistic "but would they get criticism for not taking practice seriously" shhhh. everyone is enjoying this. it's about the wholesome nature of the whole team playing around and genuinely having fun together and also trent is too. formerly feared respected scary journalist cackling like a little kid while balanced precariously on the shoulders of a premiere league footballer. it's cute. it's also extremely funny. how did anyone find this dork scary

Sometimes I wonder why cold symptoms always get worse in the evenings there has to be a logical explanation for that

Having watched Nimona recently, I feel it's important for me, as a trans person, to discuss a certain criticism I've seen regarding the movie. A criticism I take great issue with, and one that I think needs to be addressed. And that is the supposed issue of Nimona being "too blatant" about its queerness, that its message is "ham-fisted" in nature. And that bothers me. It bothers me that people think that something that is blatant is inherently bad. It bothers me that people think its message is ham-fisted simply because you don't have to go searching for it. Something being obvious isn't inherently negative and I'm tired of that sentiment being thrown around like it's fact. Because subtlety isn't an inherent good either, neither are good or bad entirely. And frankly, when it comes to queerness in media, the only way it will have an impact is if it's blatant. Especially regarding transness.

Because, if you'll allow me to be completely blunt and candid, we don't live in a society where subtle queerness can be appreciated. We live in a society that wants people like me eradicated for simply existing. Laws are being passed continously that discriminate against us and prevent us from living comfortably. We live in a world rn where we either have to suffer in silence or fucking die. That is the reality trans people live in. So if those that hate us are given any indication that they can disregard us, ignore us, pretend we don't exist, they will take that opportunity everytime. We've seen this with Across the Spiderverse, where even trans flags and trans colors splashed across Gwen will still lead to people denying her transness.

Because at the end of the day, Spiderverse is still about Miles Morales, and it's still about Spiderman, and Spiderman's story isn't inherently queer. So they'll make every excuse to ignore Gwen's transness, or they'll simply ignore her story to focus on the rest of what ATSV has to offer. Ultimately, it can still be overlooked and enjoyed without acknowledging that aspect. But that isn't the case for Nimona. Nimona is a queer story with queer themes and queer characters, queerness is baked into the very core of what Nimona is. To not acknowledge those aspects is to blatantly misinterpret the movie, you cannot divorce Nimona from being gay, and trans, and nonbinary, and genderfluid and everything that falls in between. It is blatant, and really, I think that's what we need rn. We need something so unapolegetically queer that people can't ignore it, they can't disregard it, and they can't look away from it. Because then that means they have to acknowledge us, that they can't wipe us out, that we are here and we are loud and we WILL make our voices known. Being quiet helps no one, but being loud is what inspires change, it's what makes people uncomfortable, and I say we make them as uncomfortable as possible.

For every bigot that wants us dead, that thinks we're monsters and unfit for society, you will have the bigots who understand that they're wrong. You will have the bigots who change the way they see us, and might even recognize how harmful they were being. You don't get that by keeping your head down and hinting towards a vague metaphor that a character might be trans, because with how things are right now, it won't be enough to make an impact. You do that by making a metaphor so obvious it bypasses subtext and becomes the text, you do that by having characters like Nimona, who simply wish to exist without everyone pestering her about who she is, she's Nimona, and that's the only answer she or anyone should have to give. You do that by intiating a rallying cry, to inspire trans people, kids or otherwise, and to state plain and clearly that we see you, and that you aren't alone.

So yeah Nimona is very blatant in its queerness, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

sometimes the popular interpretations of a character can be very wrong/kinda boring. maybe referring to sephiroth here….

Fandom be normal about bi women challenge (impossible. apparently.)

Why do you hate Sam? 👀

The very first time we meet him, in the very first appearance he makes on screen, he is rude to Joan (the most beautiful woman in the world). Unforgivable sin. Death penalty.

no one can make u feel crazier than ur mother<3