You know what gets me about leverage? Every single villain is absolutely and utterly boring. And I mean that in the best way possible. No dark and mysterious sexy villains or misunderstood extremists who actually had the right idea maybe hmmm it’s complicated. NO. Just corrupt white guys (and sometimes non-white non men but 9 times out of 10 it’s an old white guy in a suit) being greedy, and greed and or overconfidence being their downfall. There are a few instances where the show grants some sympathy for the villain of the week who “can be a decent guy but currently kinda going through something and not realizing the damage they are causing but start doing better once they are confronted (pretty dramatically) about it, and also usually after most of the consequences of their actions have already started biting them in the butt big time” (Hurley, Molly’s dad).
But other then that? The show is committed to showing that all these evil things are happening due to greedy people with too much power, and most importantly, that’s not interesting. Those people are boring.
Even Moreau? Hyped up for an entire season, complicated dark past to one of the team members? Boring, greedy, overconfident dude. Gets taken down by his own overconfidence more than the “24 year old genius with a smartphone and a problem with authority”. Not once does the show try to spin him in a more compelling, intriguing light. We get “He prefers beer” and then like, two episodes of proof that Moreau didn’t pay much attention to Eliot after he left (and is in general not that smart of a dude but that’s a different post). Moreau was only “interesting” as far as Eliot’s character development was concerned but beyond that he had the depth of an origami clown.
Latimer and Dubenich? Same hype, same downfall. Same lack of depth.
Udall? Who I think is one of the only “ideological” villains in the show? Not for a second are his ideas entertained, instead they hint strongly that Vance (one of the “good guys”) is on pretty thin fucking ice as well for someone on the “”“opposite end”“” of that spectrum (I do not expect criticism of the US military/police state in US television at all, so I felt like that leeway was as good as it gets, lol).
I’m not saying villains in fiction shouldn’t be interesting or have a point or whatever, because that’s literally their narrative function. But I do appreciate how Leverage came to point out the problems at the tip of the system and went “these kinda guys exist irl, they have blood on their hands, and they are not sympathetic or compelling. They are just greedy and they suck.”
Let gay/bi men and bi women talk about their attraction to men in LGBT spaces without people saying that men are awful and it sucks to be attracted to them. Let bi men talk about their attraction to women in LGBT spaces without people saying that men’s attraction to women is disgusting. Let men and people who like men exist in LGBT spaces without being attacked by sexist assholes.
Also let trans guys and trans mascs ENJOY being men!! It sucks to finally figure yourself out to only be told you’re devilspawn and what’s wrong with the world immediately after stating your identity *ESPECIALLY in supposedly LGBTQIA safe spaces*
Another point to add to this STOP SHITTING ON TRANSHETS!!! You sound like a terf calling trans men “lesbian traitors!!” A straight trans woman is not a traitorous gay man!! A straight trans man is not a traitorous lesbian!! Let straight trans people exist!!
listen din and omera where talking about how he hasn’t taken his helmet off in front of anyone since he was a kid and then when she left the barn he took his helmet off at the window and the focus shifted to omera, winta, grogu, and the other kids outside and then later cara was like “so you can slip off the helmet and settle down with that beautiful young widow and raise your kid sitting here sipping spotchka” and omera told him that she and the village wanted him and grogu to stay then he nearly let omera take his helmet off (don’t come at her she literally was moving so slow to give him the opportunity to stop her and when he did she didn’t press him any further) and basically what i’m saying is is that shot of him in the window looking at his son and omera and her daughter was foreshadowing that din and omera will be together in the end and raise their kids together in this essay i’ll-
Don’t like certain themes in a fic? You can always stop reading and move on to something else.
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Don’t enjoy the characterizations in a fic? Is it too OOC for you? Feel free to stop reading and move on to something else.
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Content of a certain fic might be triggering or upsetting to you? Please stop reading and move on to something else.
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It is *always* a reader’s responsibility to decide what they do and do not read. It is *not* the writer’s job to adhere to anyone else’s standards or preferences.
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If you send hate to an author because of something you didn’t like about their plot or characters or warnings, that is you trying to misguidedly place blame on the author, rather than taking your own responsibility for not putting down the fic and just. Moving. On. To. Something. Else.
Hi I just read River and…. I cannot believe people hate Flamepaw/Nightheart…… I relate to him so much….. honestly ngl it genuinely pisses me off that people hate him all because of his strained relationship with Sparkpelt. As if he’s not allowed to feel the way he does after being neglected as a kit. As if hes just supposed to magically throw away the effects it’s had on him.
Like idk coming from someone who was neglected as a child, Nightheart really speaks to me and my expiriences, and it upsets me that the fans could be so cruel about a very real issue.
At least imo he is a pretty accurate depiction of what my own childhood neglect has done to me, how it’s effected my behaviors, my thought processes, how it’s effected my ability to form normal/proper friendships and bonds. It’s forever messed up my ability to trust, my self esteem, my relationship with my family. I cant form normal friendships, because my early neglect has left me with the inability to form normal, healthy bonds. All i can think about is the possibility of being abandoned again. Its crippling. It hurts.
Like idk hot take but you guys cannot use Sparkpelts grief as an excuse for neglecting her children… yes, it is a reason, and I understand her circumstances, and i dont blame her for it. She couldn’t control it, she needed to heal, and she deserves support. BUT it still doesn’t change the fact that she DID neglect her children, and it DID cause them genuine harm.
Like idk i get this a lot in real life, too. So maybe it just feels a little personal. But Nightheart doesn’t owe Sparkpelt a good relationship just because she was struggling. And that goes for any child who has experienced harm or neglect from their guardians.
Like to be quiet frank im kinda sick of the fandom dismissing one characters (completely valid) hurt in favor of another. You can be hurt and cause hurt. Stop acting like just bc you were hurt you are completely exempt from the hurt you cause others
So yeah this was kind of a rant but ugh…. child neglect is a real life issue in case you guys forgot. And yes it causes actual harm in case you guys forgot that, too. You don’t just get over something like that
Okay I’m gonna make this it’s own post cause it’s important.
Good Omens, WWDITS, and OFMD are all queer rep. But I really do think the main reason why ofmd feels the most ‘real’ for some people is it scratches a particular itch a lot of people on Tumblr have been trying to get for years.
Good Omens has two characters who appear to be men. Both characters spend thousands of years pining after each other and falling in love, but it’s not 'explicitly states’ not is there a kiss. There is rep for nonbinary folks, AroAce folks, but it’s not 'gay.’ The rep is purely 'queer.’
What We Do in the Shadows has a romance between two men. Both, while confirmed to be gay/bi, have not kissed or hugged or been 'romantic’ on screen. They’ve been intimate and have had arcs to show care, jealously, and whatnot but nothing very romantic. At least, not from a classic standpoint. The creators are pushing a 'will they/won’t they’ arc. This is normal in many TV shows, but for many queers who are used to queerbaiting, the expectation is to be let down. Even if all the signs point to 'they will’ it still hits that traumatic 'queerbaiting’ tone for many.
Our Flag Means Death has a romance between not only two men, but a side romance between two men that has a kiss scene. The two main leads are romantic towards each other. But not only that, the creator has made it explicitly clear this is a romance. He has pushed again and again that this will happen, it’s just a slow burn. There is explicit 'gay’ rep on screen and promised future 'gay’ rep.
The reason ofmd resonates is because of what other posts have pointed out. Supernatural, Merlin, Sherlock; over and over two men have been shipped together with such fervor, it feels like a betrayal when it’s ignored. Or teased and then ignored. We don’t want to be traumatized again.
But also, they all represent one type of rep. Romantic, gay rep of two cishet men finding love. Even though in the case of Destiel, Cas is rarely viewed as anything but a cis man (even though that’s very not true). The expectation that those previous failures are being redeemed by this one show can make the queer rep in other shows seem less desirable.
Good Omens, WWDITS, and OFMD are three different types of queer rep, but ofmd has a specific trauma reaction being healed tied to it. And it’s okay to recognize that, but also, it needs to be recognized that does not take the queerness away from other shows.
None of these shows are queerbaiting. Acknowledge your trauma and enjoy them all for what they are, not what you want them to be.
Yes, the top!vampire entity trope is very popular but…
A cute submissive vampire drooling with their mouth open, fangs showing, a look of utter desperation in their glowing red eyes, brought to their knees in their own castle and begging for the sweet taste between my thighs
They know I’ll let them have a little taste of my blood if they do their job well, and oh, do they take that serious. Eating me out like they’re starving - not for blood but for praise and sweet pet names, starving for someone to dominate them in the way they’ve always been craving it.
happy anniversary of the ending of Lost! it’s been 12 years so i’m done arguing, if you still think they were dead the whole time i’m just gonna punch you in the face
obviously I think abortions should be available to anyone for any reason without apology but it is extra fucking insane and evil that overturning roe will put every single pregnant person at risk whether they’re seeking abortion or not because the men who write laws and know nothing about pregnancy or the female reproduction system have decided that it falls under the umbrella of abortion to operate on certain life-threatening complications that neither the mother nor the embryo/fetus can survive if left alone
‘I’m a woman-leaning bisexual and you know what pisses me off? The fact that I’m dating a skinny white man and I love him and I’m happy, like what the fuck.’
And I just have to say. What pisses me off as a bisexual woman is that TikTok.
This is the Woke version of ‘my wife is the ol’ ball and chain, doesn’t it suck to be married,’ jokes. It’s not funny. Your queerness is not negated or tarnished by opposite-gender attraction, dating men isn’t inherently worse than dating women.
Love your partner.
Cherish them.
For fucks sake.
So much this. I’ve had a rant building for a while and it looks like today’s the day.
I’m getting REAL SICK of that “bisexual means I’m attracted to all women and two men” joke. I’m getting equally sick of the implication, in a thousand ways, that men are bad and it’s inherently worse to be attracted to them. If you’re a woman or woman-adjacent and you fall in love with a man, there’s this horrible and easy-to-internalize idea that you’re taking the lesser option.
Like y’all. Y’all? You know that’s gender essentialist radfem bullshit, right?
If you didn’t, I’d like to gently suggest you consider the idea that “Men are problematic (read: sinful) and violent, women are pure, beautiful and loving” is just conservative Christian ideology in a gay hat. We are not advancing towards equality for all genders by flipping which end of the scale is The Bad One ™.
I’m bisexual. I make a point of talking about being queer (because it’s my identity and culture, and that’s important to me), and I present mostly in the androgynous area of the spectrum. People often assume I’m only/mostly interested in women.
That’s actually not true. I like all genders, but when it comes to specific people, I’m most often attracted to men. And it makes me sad – really, genuinely sad – how many times I’ve felt ashamed to talk about that. Even though I’m not a woman, liking a man has made me feel “not queer enough.” Hell, some days it still does.
I’m gonna say this, even though I know a lot of people won’t like it. And I will also say in advance that I am not accepting criticism and I don’t argue on the internet as a personal mental health policy.
That said, here is the statement: This too is a closet.
Anytime you’re ashamed to admit to liking someone because they’re the “wrong” gender, anytime falling in love is treated like a disappointment instead of a celebration, I don’t care who you are or who your partner is, that is a FUCKING CLOSET. And I would appreciate it if we could STOP PUTTING PEOPLE IN THOSE.
for the love of god please listen to old users when we say this site works differently. that you can’t just sit around with a blank blog. make posts or reblog, but do something at least. this site works because we don’t have an unavoidable garbage algorithm forcefeeding us posts based on our likes. we do not need another fucking twitter, tiktok or instagram.
liking a post is literally useless here. we don’t have an algorithm. we see posts when people reblog them onto our dashes, they show up in a tag we’re following/searching, or they end up chucked into our recommended page (very inaccurate, basically just popular posts that may be vaguely related to your interests sometimes). liking doesn’t do anything. it’s just a button that’s there to show, hey, i saw this post. or you’re saving it for later
this is (partially) why art blogs are dying. if you don’t actually reblog the art posts you enjoy, they won’t reach anyone and just…stay there with a few likes.
Please for the love of gods use the “no archive warnings apply” instead of “Creator chose to not use archive warnings” when relevant. there’s a difference!!!!
If there’s NO rape, underage, graphic depictions of violence, or major character deaths in your fic, use “no archive warnings apply”
becauseotherwise, you’re implying that there IS rape, underage, graphic depictions of violence, and/or major character deaths and you’re purposefully not stating which one so that it’s a surprise in the fic.
