bedes: An icon of Bede from Pokemon, smirking towards the camera. (bede)
Incredibly niche pet peeve but I cannot stand when people make Confessions of a Rotten Girl about yuri, but ONLY!! because it is always done so half-assed. Confessions of a Rotten Girl, down to its very base concept, down to its name, is meant to revolve around BL fandom culture. You can't just swap the boys out for girls and expect that to be an accurate representation of himejoshi culture.

My dream "Confessions of a Rotten Girl But Yuri" song is one where the concept is completely reworked. Of course, the structures would be paralleled, but it would be much more of a sister song than a "cover" or such.

Here's my pitch: "rotten girl" comes from "fujoshi", so we would replace that with "princess girl". And, since "confessions" ties into the whole theme of shame/self-indulgence, it would be changed to something more fitting of a princess. Decrees of a Princess Girl, perhaps.

It could lean into the ideas that are present, not only in real-life culture, but in many early yuri works, as well: that an interest in other girls is something that young queer girls will "grow out of". The main character (himedere-ish in nature) leans into this idea to try to act like she doesn't really like it, but her true fannish tendencies can't help but show through the cracks. ("I'm just collecting all this stuff because it's, like, super trendy right now, and I deserve whatever I want! Also, it'll probably resell for a lot, because I got the special rare edition from a super-exclusive meet-and-greet!!! KYA") The final version of the chorus would have her walls of "ironic/casual enjoyment" break down.

In my ideal world, the MV would also contain references to World is Mine, as another himedere-centric Vocaloid song.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk
bedes: An icon of Marcy from Amphibia thinking (marcy)
The first appearance of The Fount of Knowledge, who wears long religious robes The second appearance of The Fount of Knowledge, who wears a skin-tight bodysuit

So, Shadow Milk Cookie's corruption involved ripping off his flowing, religious-coded robes, revealing a skintight bodysuit underneath. A skintight bodysuit that, mind you, he looks much happier in.

I’m stuck between wanting to commentate on the inherent queercoded nature of this, and just wanting to call him the word.

NSFW joke under the cut... continue? )
bedes: (ivan)
Do you ever see a piece of fiction that you wish you had gotten into as a kid? Like, you love it Now, but you wish you had the experience of enjoying it as a child, too? Although I often wish I could experience pieces of fiction for the first time again, too, so I suppose the grass is always greener.

I guess what I’m saying is that, in a universe slightly to the left from ours, a tweenage Azure became SICKENINGLY obsessed with Riku Kingdomhearts. Just an absolute BLOODBATH. Because if I have one thing in common with my tween self, it's undoubtedly that we both love mean queercoded characters who experience SHAME πŸ”₯πŸ”₯πŸ’₯πŸ’₯πŸ’₯πŸΎπŸŽ‰πŸ”₯πŸ’₯πŸ’₯πŸ’₯πŸŽ‰
bedes: An icon of Marcy from Amphibia thinking (marcy)
Finn's physical degradation is being paralleled by the degradation of Fionna's moral backbone.

She's losing herself. She agreed to work with her friend's abusive, power-hungry mother (thus pushing him away), and is obsessively chasing this fantasy with Phelix despite him having a girlfriend. She doesn't recognize the effort her friends put in to the event. She is single-mindedly chasing this fantasy of being a hero, while, in reality, she is hurting those she is trying to "save".

The threat looms — both of a physical death (Finn), and a symbolic death of the self (the "Fifi" future).
bedes: Art of Mikuo, the genderbend of Hatsune Miku, in the outfit and stylings of Project Voltage's Fairy-type Trainer Miku. He has a small ponytail, and is holding up his pillow to rest his face against it. His eyes are sleepy and half-lidded. (mikuo)
(Cross-posting from the [community profile] holiday_wishes community.)

Hi, hello! My name is Azure, and I'm a queer and disabled young adult, and certifiable fandom geek. I'm look forward to fulfilling some wishes (I have a few bookmarked and fulfilled a few already!). In the meantime, here is my list!

ΛšΛ–π“’Φ΄ΰ»‹ ΰ­§ βœ‰οΈ β€§β‚ŠΛš .⛸️ β„οΈŽ ⋅

1. Help me move! I'm currently saving up to move out of my parents' home! They forbid me from going on HRT, so I'm trying to move ASAP. Plus, I live in a red state with lots of anti-trans legislation.

My Paypal.me is here, and my Ko-fi is here!

2. Comments on my fics! I am AzureMist on AO3, and some fandoms I've written for include Dungeon Meshi, MILGRAM, Splatoon, and Pokémon, among other things! If you're familiar with any of the fandoms I've written for, from 2021 onward, I'd really, really appreciate it if you could spare some kind words!

3. Rec me your favorite indie games! I loooove indie games!!! Especially queer indie games. If you know any hidden gems fitting that description, please, tell me about them! Break out your niche itch.io faves!!! Some of my favorite games along these lines include In Stars and Time, Bad End Theater, Celeste, Fields of Mistria, Great God Grove, Smile For Me, Our Life: Beginnings & Always, and Dead Plate! (No games with incest, please.)

4. Digital giftcards! Specifically Nintendo eShop, Steam, Pokémon Center and DoorDash gift cards! I have a long gaming-related wishlist, so if you could help make even a dent in that, it would be very appreciated. The Pokémon Center is the official Pokémon merch store, and Pokémon is my one true fandom, so it makes sense why I would love some items from there (especially Pokémon plushies, as I collect them)! And lastly, DoorDash cards will be used for yummy holiday treats like cookies~!

5. Pledge to support the Starbucks strike! I know, I know, believe me, I know! This is the best time of year for Starbucks! But Starbucks workers are currently undergoing a national ULP strike to end the company's union busting, and demand better wages, amongst other things. I worked for Starbucks for a brief time this year, so it'd mean a lot if you could pledge to not cross the picket line.

6. Paid time on Tumblr! I'm azuremist! Tumblr is my main online platform of choice, so I'd get a ton of usage out of it.

7. Art of my OCs! I'm basically always looking for art of my fursona and persona! Since they're both fat like I am, it can be hard to find artists willing to draw them, so it'd be super appreciated. Linked is a page with each character's information and gallery!

8. Steam games! Steam gift cards too much of a hassle? I understand. (What kinda digital store doesn't let you send an e-gift card by email? In 2025??) Then maybe consider gifting me a game more directly with Humble Bundle! Specific games on my wishlist include Great God Grove, Volcano Princess, and Ikenfell! (Maybe even get me a surprise game, based off of my likes listed in #3? Yes, this is me inviting you to try to indoctrinate me into your video game fandoms!)

9. Support for my art accounts! A share, a kind comment, or maybe even a follow for any of my art accounts would warm my heart!! It's brutal out here for us artists online in this day and age... I am primarily active on Tumblr and Bluesky!

10. Spare my beloved's site some kind words!
This one's a secret, okay? Don't mention that I sent you! But my long-suffering husband has a simple website! It contains things like some of his art, and a work-in-progress guide to shiny hunting. Pup often gets discouraged with pups site, and hasn't updated it in a while because of it. So, please consider looking around, then signing the guestbook at the bottom of the homepage with some kind words!

ΛšΛ–π“’Φ΄ΰ»‹ ΰ­§ βœ‰οΈ β€§β‚ŠΛš .⛸️ β„οΈŽ ⋅

Thank you and happy holidays to you all! My email is azures.mist@protonmail.com, and my Steam account is azuremists!
bedes: An icon of Bede from Pokemon, smirking towards the camera. (Default)
Rating: G

Fandom: Great God Grove

Characters: Click Clack, Thespius Green (mentioned)

Relationship: Click Clack/Thespius Green

Words: 932

Tropes: Internalized Homophobia (Click Clack), Autistic Character (Click Clack), Character Study, Denial of Feelings, Unconventional Format

Summary: Click Clack carefully edits his thought process (lest it leads to something he's not yet ready to face).

He can't let his mask fall off, after all!

Notes )



Read more... )
bedes: (ivan)

I can see the parallels between Marshall Lee writing a song about how Gary is like his mom, and Woke Up.

Specifically, I can see Marshall Lee’s song ending up leaning more heavily into addressing his mother, since Woke Up can easily be recontextualized into being about their relationship, ESPECIALLY if Marshall Lee finds out that his mom has been stalking him. ("I'm sick of livin' under your thumb!", "I should say / That you're kind of a dictator, in a way / You're to blame / You're a constant source of misery and pain! / What a shame / That you're so stuck up, I know you won't change / Out of frame / No, I don't believe you cared about me! / 'Cause you left me drowning”) Which Gary could then misunderstand as being entirely about him.

I’m gonna cross my fingers and hope that Gary's secure enough to take it in stride, especially considering it was his suggestion. Woke Up: Good End, mayhaps.

bedes: An icon of Kabru from the Dungeon Meshi manga, smiling bashfully (kabru)
Whilst I very much align with the idea of "art is about your personal experiences with it and your own interpretation", I do understand how some artists (especially indie artists) may begin to demand that nobody else interpret their art in any other way than the intended vision.

Creation of art is a deeply personal process. So to see others saying that the artist's intent doesn’t really matter can feel very disrespectful. It can feel like their art is being taken from them, while leaving the artist themself out of the picture. As if their art is a piece of content, and while everyone loves the art, nobody cares to consider the person who made it.

I don’t think this point of view is correct at all, but I can understand why it's so common with artists. I think that more artists should view others interpreting their art in a way personal to them as a way that art is successful, rather than a failure at the supposed objective of “making others understand my intention”.
bedes: Art of Mikuo, the genderbend of Hatsune Miku, in the outfit and stylings of Project Voltage's Fairy-type Trainer Miku. He has a small ponytail, and is holding up his pillow to rest his face against it. His eyes are sleepy and half-lidded. (mikuo)
I looove that Silent Salt isn’t able to see White Lily as separate from Dark Enchantress. It reinforces the flaws that were already established previously, via his treatment of the Virtues.

His beastly traits are that he is ruthlessly unforgiving, and that he dehumanizes others. Silent Salt sees others as their duties and their duties alone — their struggles do not matter.

"A Berdly"

Oct. 29th, 2025 05:48 pm
bedes: An icon of Marcy from Amphibia thinking (marcy)
It's funny that "a Berdly" is now used colloquially to mean "a character who is obnoxious in a funny/silly way, used affectionately", because for those first few weeks after Chapter 2 released, the vast majority of people were saying Berdly was transphobic and lesbophobic and killed their grandmas. The Weird Route’s discovery did insane PR work for him. Crazy what almost dying can do for an autist!
bedes: An icon of Bede from Pokemon, looking towards the camera. (bede2)
Moved my fandom list page from Rentry. The huge-ass porn banner ads, and the un-closable “support Rentry!” banner when you have adblock, was the final straw. That said, the "URL reclaim" system having its rules be stupidly inconsistent, and, thus, causing multiple of my pastes that I thought followed the rules get deleted with no warning also didn't help. Plus, I've been seeing some people saying that, when they click on links outside of the ad, Rentry treats it as if it was a click on the ad. So if you click any link in Rentry, there's a chance it'll just straight up send you to malware or a porn site. As a treat.

I've moved this information to pastry.diy. I considered a lot of different pastebin sites, but none of them won out over Rentry, given that it is probably one of the best-known pastebin services with decent customization. Pastry.diy relatively new, so I could get all the same URLs as I did on Rentry with no problem, and it's a pastebin service that uses HTML and CSS, which means better customization, as well. My fandom list is at pastry.diy/chara now.
bedes: An icon of Marina from the official Hana vs Dango Splatfest art (marina)
You know what they say about three times making a pattern. So, if every trial 3 song is going to close with addressing/referencing another character, here are my predictions for who shows up in whose MV:

Kazui: assuming that the addressees are limited to other prisoners, Shidou — but if not, I could see him addressing his wife or the man he was interested in

Amane: Shidou and/or Fuuta — if Kazui's ends up being Shidou, then most certainly Fuuta

Mikoto: John

Kotoko: Es, Jackalope, and/or the audience — most likely Es
bedes: An icon of Kabru from the Dungeon Meshi manga, smiling bashfully (kabru)
I am extremely cross with the MILGRAM translation team for translating "可哀想" (kawaisou) as "baby", when Muu refers to Haruka. "Kawaisou" is a word that means someone who is pitiful. You use it in order to express sympathy with someone who is in a sad situation. It does not imply age.

"Poor boy" would be a much more accurate translation. And it doesn't have the unfortunate side-effect of infantilizing an intellectually disabled character, and implying motherly feelings on Muu's end that she pointedly does not harbor. (Haruka saw her as a mother, but Muu viewed Haruka as a friend.)

I will ALSO say, though, I 100% commend the English translation team for localizing that one line as, "I won’t stop hurting you, ‘cause I’m a mean girl."

They seemed to understand the weight the phrase "mean girl" holds with English-speakers. The blonde girl, the "rich bitch". These ideas, these stereotypes internalized as facts in English-speaking audiences due to misogynistic teenage fiction, have been held against Muu from the release of her very first MV.

This is the idea that they invoke as they humanize her, show her trauma, show her love for Haruka.

"You thought I was nothing but a mean girl. That’s why you chose to punish me, even when it came at the cost of someone else's life… So I will become the villain from the PG movies of your past. I'll flatten myself into someone so 2D like that, as long as you apologize to him."

It turns the mirror back on the audience, and shines a light the misogyny Muu has been facing from the very start. I've said it many times, and I will say it again: Muu Kusunoki, they could never make me hate you!!!
bedes: An icon of Marcy from Amphibia thinking (marcy)
Information on the Fount of Knowledge is 110% being purposefully obscured.

In Beast Yeast 11, all mentions of Fount are avoided. His name is only brought up once — to refer to Shadow Milk as "fallen Fount". Fount doesn’t have a pre-corruption sprite like the other Beasts. We have "Strong Flour Ridge", "Garden of Delights", and "Land of the Spices", but only "Fount of Knowledge's domain." While minor characters refer to the other pre-corruption Beasts as "selfless" or "kind" or such, there is nobody who mentions Fount. We have no idea what he was like. It's almost as if he never existed.

Only one question remains: is this choice Devsis trying to keep the mystery up until the big reveal? Or is it a narrative choice? Is the big reveal about Fount, in part, that he has been forgotten or erased?
bedes: Fanart of Natsuki from Doki Doki Literature Club, holding a cupcake up to her mouth and smiling widely, about to take a bite (natsuki)
God, I love the Beasts. Wretched little creatures. Fallen angels who have been abandoned by God. Objectified at every turn as solely their duty, even by one of their own — being called Beasts when they fail at their job. Presumably having very little contact with each other (or Silent Salt would have known more of their plights), leaving each individual Virtue feeling isolated and uniquely broken. And then, their bodies are shattered.

Holy emissaries filled with so much pain that they'll destroy what they were made to protect.
bedes: An icon of Bede from Pokemon, looking towards the camera. (bede2)
Honestly, I don't think that Kris being nonbinary invalidates the idea of the Weird Route being a metaphor for compulsory heterosexuality. Nonbinary people can play the part of binary genders, socially speaking, even if that doesn't match with their internal sense of gender.

Even aside from that, I also don't think that the genders have to line up with what you're commentating on in order to be effective commentary, either. Het couples can be queer-coded within their story.

Also the majority of people I see getting angry at people who interpret this NB/F relationship as a commentary on male/female relationships are the exact same people who call that same NB/F relationship "yuri" so, like. You can't have it both ways, you know? Either it's erasure to see Kris as a gendered figure for the sake of viewing their relationship with Noelle in a certain way, or it's not. (And saying that it's a comphet metaphor doesn't even imply that Kris fully is a boy, just a metaphorical stand-in for a boy.)
bedes: An icon of Marcy from Amphibia thinking (marcy)

I think it's interesting that the Beasts are conform to traditional gender roles, especially when compared to the Ancient Heroes. The warriors are men, and the women are in more nurturing positions. While Shadow Milk is far from traditionally masculine now, while he was still a Virtue, he was an academic – a position often seen as strictly for men. (And I feel it goes without saying that he almost certainly wasn't a shapeshifter until after his fall, given that his shifting is an extension of and aid for Shadow Milk's Deceit. That means no fluidity between masculine and feminine forms.)

Compare this to the Ancient Heroes. Pure Vanilla is an effeminate male healer (often voiced by women in different languages), and there are two strong warrior women. Dark Cacao and White Lily are the closest to being gender-conforming, but they still fall short, so to say. Dark Cacao is a strong king with a noted soft side, and White Lily is a delicate woman with a thirst for knowledge. (Remember: academia and knowledge are traditionally seen as men's territory.)

Furthermore, the Beasts have a majority of men, and the Ancient have a majority of women.

I like to imagine this is has to do with the fact that the Beasts were made for their roles, while the Ancient Heroes grew up as normal people before being gifted their sacred status. When the Virtues were hand-crafted, they were imagined up as 'suited' for their designated roles in every way. But, once these attempted manifestations of perfect ideals failed, it fell to normal people. And normal people are much more variant, much more diverse. But one can argue that it is also through the Ancient Heroes' upbringing as normal people that they are able to thrive where the Virtues once fell.

bedes: Art of Mikuo, the genderbend of Hatsune Miku, in the outfit and stylings of Project Voltage's Fairy-type Trainer Miku. He has a small ponytail, and is holding up his pillow to rest his face against it. His eyes are sleepy and half-lidded. (mikuo)
A scribbled/doodled comic of Siffrin and Isabeau. In the first panel, Isabeau is waving Siffrin over with a big smile, saying, 'OMG Sif come look at this!' Siffrin sits right next to Isabeau, shoulder-to-shoulder with a calm smile, and asks, 'What's up?' Isabeau says, 'Uh-', which transitions to the next panel, that shows him sweating and blushing. He's thinking, 'So close OMG they are so close OMG how do i react WHAT DO?' The final panel shows Isabeau sweating, blushing and panicking in silence, while Siffrin remains sat next to him, also blushing but significantly calmer. Siffrin is thinking, 'We're friends. This is friends behavior.'


Cannot stress enough how integral this comic in the artbook was to understanding Isafrin for me. So many questions I had regarding Siffrin's actions/feelings towards Isabeau can be explained by "We're Friends. This Is Friends Behavior. *blushing*"

"Why does Siffrin say he doesn't know how he feels towards Isabeau, despite his internal monologue showing that he does with decent clarity?" They simply believe that it is Average Friends Behavior. Thinking about Isabeau when shown a buff man in a romantic evaluation context? Friends Behavior!

This, of course, interacts with him saying that he hates that he feels romantic attraction. They don't want to experience it. So he tells himself that anything he feels isn't romantic; it's Friends Behavior!

TL;DR: me when I'm in an "avoiding confronting my feelings" competition and my opponent is Siffrin