♪ 22. Aquarius, Who Cares? ♫ I write stuff about girls with super powers playing music and stuff. ------------------- Side-Blog For Book Series: Soundwaves-Series
Finally! I am done with my commission of these lovely two (Olivia and Abigail) the Oc’s of the lovely @onyx-archer ! Thank you again commissioning me and I had a lot of fun drawing your babies 🥰
(And would you look at that, right on time for pride month too! 🌈)
It’s always just about the writing hm… but somehow the same critcism comes up every time there’s a sapphic ship….oh well…
The more i hear those arguments the less convincing they become….
I disagree with this post’s point at least somewhat. This is mostly because, as a person who is pan and ace, I find a lot of LGBTQ+ romance to be kinda badly written. Then again, I also find straight romance just as bad in the instances where it’s done poorly (and holy fuck is straight romance full of bad writing).
I find a lot of the problems with LGBTQ+ romance to be similar to those found in straight romance, but I think the actual issues people like those the OP mentions is a case of the romance feeling like it just happened on a whim. This is something that I absolutely dislike, and I like some of the ships used as examples. This is a problem more because there’s still a pressure on creators to hide gay stuff in the closet, so to speak, because of the idea that the average heterosexual person would throw a conniption fit over it. It’s obviously a problem that isn’t going to get better if they don’t put LGBTQ+ stuff into things.
The issue of LGBTQ+ feeling “forced” or like it’s “part of an agenda” is the byproduct of them being scared to do anything out of fear of the far-right reacting badly. There is a degree of limp-wristed attempts at being progressive in modern fiction. This is how I see it as both a writer and as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. I understand the comfort in seeing your orientation (among other things) being represented, but sometimes it comes off as an attempt to pander, and not as a genuine attempt to integrate it into a story.
Korrasami (literally the only thing I like about LoK as a series) was very last minute (the reasons as to why is to not piss off the far-right most likely), and was then cast off into a spin-off sequel comic that likely isn’t selling super well due to it not being part of a major publication imprint.
As for Bumblebee, it’s something that I genuinely like a lot, but RT refuses to not skirt around it despite not being on a traditional network. They’ve been skirting around most romances in RWBY, straight ones included, for a long ass time. Renora got to kiss, but then… nothing really happened? It’s likely because RWBY isn’t a romance show, but I can’t be the only one that feels like the show is baiting me with the promise of gay stuff, only to keep it ambiguous to not offend the fans that hate Bumblebee. (Though I can say that RWBY’s writing in general is terrible, so bad romance writing is to be expected)
I do agree it’s frustrating when people say “it’s a retcon” or whatever when same sex couples occur between characters that previously were in heterosexual relationships. I don’t approach things like that, I hold the position of “all characters are bi unless there’s enough to say otherwise.” I can kind of agree with the idea that “the gays” are fanservice/pandering, but that’s because they are often written under the guise of faux progressiveness by people who have no idea what it is like to have an attraction to the same sex, and don’t bother to really learn. My mind instantly jumps to when they made Iceman gay out of the blue, because it was so poorly thought out by a straight dude. (I’m not saying straight people can’t write good gay stuff, I know plenty that can decent stuff of the LGBTQ+ variety)
My issue is that dismissing this because it’s “the only criticism that seems to come up” is ignoring the actual writing problems that exist. I totally understand wanting to see creative people “accept you” in their stuff. Really. I get it. But at the same time, non-LGBTQ+ people need to be accounted for to some degree, and if their criticism has actual merit, then it shouldn’t be ignored/dismissed because they lack the “lived experience.” That leads to anti-hetero thinking, and in a world where you have to regularly bump elbows (metaphorically speaking of course) with people outside of the LGBTQ+ community, being mad at straight people because some of them are actually horrible bigots is no better.
This was all over the place, and I really don’t care if people agree with me. I could care less what this hellsite thinks of me, since I’m not here much. But all that said, I think that dismissing the criticism because some people who say it are using it to mask their homophobia is not a healthy thing to do. Some people who say this stuff genuinely see the writing problems. I’m sure anyone who is gay/lesbian/bi/etc. can level similar criticisms at straight romances in media that are done poorly in the writing.
So hey it’s been a hot second - but I GOT MORE HOT GOILS. More refs of
characters in @onyx-archer ‘s comic/story, working title currently ‘The
Soundwaves Saga‘.
Thoughts on the Broadway Cast Recording of “Be More Chill”
Note: I’m likely going to piss off at least some people for bringing negative opinions into the Be More Chill / BMC tags, but please understand that I genuinely don’t think this recording was necessary. If anything, I kinda wish it waited until, say, UK production got it before they did a new cast recording (kinda like what Heathers did, even if I also don’t care for that recording either).
I’m not trying to start a war though, I just wanted to say some thoughts. If you have a problem with this take on the Broadway Cast Recording, then please be respectful about it. If you aren’t, I’m just gonna block you and be done with it.
And now, my genuine thoughts on the new cast recording:
- “I Love Play Rehearsal” is just… kinda hard to listen to now because they amp’d up Christine’s quirkiness, and I don’t care for it. - I think the nerfed “The Squip Song” - Michael sounds different, despite still being George Salazar, and I don’t really… like it. - The new songs are pretty decent. - Changing the order of “The Pants Song” and “The Pitiful Children” makes a degree of sense, but also doesn’t really bother me much. - Will Rolland does a good job, though I still prefer Will Connolly’s take on Jeremy. - I ABSOLUTELY BLOODY HATE THE KEANU REEVES VOICE THE SQUIP HAS LIKE HOLY FUCK I LOATHE IT!!!!!!!!!! IT’S SO DISTRACTING!! I get he’s supposed to _look_ like Keanu Reeves, but when people do Keanu impressions, I always wince because it sounds so shitty and this is no different. - I’m probably going to make an update to my “Jeremy/Brooke Alternate Ending” ideas to account for the changes.
It’s here !! The guide for two-legged people who don’t know how to draw wheelchairs !!!
7 pages of infodump !
Disclaimer
: I don’t know everything, I have one (1) experience of wheelchair user
who used both bad and good chairs, and I share what I learned.
Image description :
1) Calvin in his wheelchair saying “yo” under a
huge title “how to draw manual wheelchairs properly by Calvin Arium, a
wheelchair user comic artist”.
2) A character says “my character self propels in a chair that was outdated in 1970 lol” Calvin says “so it looks like you two legged people don’t know the difference between an hospital chair and a chair made to be independant” an arrow point the crapppy chair, saying “we never want to see this again”
a bubble says “the hospital chair is extremely unpractical, tough considering it’s cheaper than a good custom chair a lot of us have only this”
3) a character hurt himself trying to reach the wheels of the hospital chair. Several arrows point why the chair is unpractical : “high backrest restrain shoulders movement” “huge armrest restrains wheel access” “separated footrest : amovible, cheap, bulky” “x structure, foldable but heavy” “huge front casters for stability” “heavy wheels”
4) Several arrows point an active wheelchair (the KSL by Küshall) : “usually no armrest” “a low backrest allow more movement” “light, design, ferning expersive” “special cushion to avoind injuries” “knee angle is usually 90°” “one single piece of frame, sometimes entirely welded” “weight : from 4 to 10kg” “often rigid” “center of the wheel is the center of gravity” “higher quality wheels : less spikes”
5) A hand grab different parts of the wheel, pushing harder in the second half. Bubbles says “some have gloves, some don’t. The hand must grab the biggest area possible. Less movement = more energy. This is a common but not only way to push.Calvin is on his back wheels, rolling on grass and dirt bubble says “popping a wheelie is when a wheelchair user rolls on their back wheels to roll on every complicated surface.
6) several drawings illustrate the folding frame, the ergonomic but rigid and expensive backrest, the separated footrest (only for folding frame), the handles, the folding handles, athe amovibles handles, or no handles, the cool fancy loopwheels, the pretty custom colors
7) More Features ! The fancy rigid-foldable frame, the anti tippers (sometimes used by beginners), the motorization (wheels, smart drive) when propelling yourself is difficult Calvin says “and now vroom vroom motherfuckers”
Two of a series of references I’m doing for characters in @onyx-archer‘s comic/story, working title currently ‘The Soundwaves Saga‘. Keep your eyes peeled for others that should come soon!
After a little bit of waiting, here are two more reference things!
Once again, it was decided to wait until two of them were ready before posting them. Unlike last time, the wait between the two was more like a month or so, and things went pretty smoothly. There were some small (basically non-noticeable to the average person) edits I think that were made to the previous two, but they aren’t worth posting because of how minor it was.
Wave two of the new and improved references of some gay disasters. This time of the Mexican (Sasha) and Indian (Delilah) variety. I affectionately also call them “The Bombshell and The Beef” because Sasha’s a bombshell, and Delilah is some Grade A Beef™. If you look at the super old versions (which should still be on the blog somewhere amongst cringe posts from years ago), Delilah had a serious glow up from “sorta fit” to “I can kill a man by flexing.”
Again, stay tuned for more from Riley on this front. We still don’t have an exact date or anything (for a number of reasons) for the next set, but we have a few other things lined up for this beyond the next two references! That’s right, we’re finally moving past the first 6 characters of this project soon! Hallelujah! If you haven’t already, go follow Riley on her social medias, and consider supporting her on Patreon!
