[voidsetup1]

and out of the darkness - you you you you you

[voidsetup1]

and out of the darkness - you you you you you

[almanacp]

I HAS A ROCKY!!!!!!!

[planeposting]

Stabilize our trajectory please

Pitch up

Pitch down

Left rudder

Right rudder

Left roll

Right roll

No1 engine thrust

No2 engine thrust

Flap angle

Altitude

Voting ended onMay 10

I just wanna see how we crash this plane

# of likes = # of passengers on board

# of reblogs = # of flight hours the pilots have

Good luck soldiers

[depsidase]

[butchfagminotaur]

lotta fucking tar pits refusing to stop being on their stupid high horses about the moon thing like christ why don’t you people just change your name to artax at this point

[butchfagminotaur]

being a miserable cunt 24/7 and refusing to ever celebrate wins or good things because “people are dying” doesn’t make you better or more pure

telling people to stop celebrating the death of a shitty politician because there’s still work to do doesn’t make you a better person

being fucking annoying every time someone is happy at the same time something bad is happening doesn’t make you holier

it makes you a tar covered asshole on a fucking bullet train to emotional burnout that insists on trying to drag everyone else with you

genuinely just shut the fuck up

[butchfagminotaur]

i guarantee like 2 hours after trump finally dies you’ll see these people cracking their knuckles to write some piss-soaked post saying “alright enough celebrating there’s still work to do and bad shit to perpetually force yourself to be miserable about so wrap it up you stupid liberals” i fucking guarantee it

[butchfagminotaur]

“oh everyone is happy about something? time to once again prove myself to be the ultimate most morally pure leftist and make others feel shitty for not being me :) god i love being the most pure and perfect and amazing leftistest leftist around :)))))” <- person who is the leftist equivalent of a manager who says “if you have time to lean you have time to clean” any time their employee takes a breath

[butchfagminotaur]

ask the old guard and they’ll tell you that you HAVE to celebrate the wins thoroughly and well because if you refuse to then everything will start to feel hopeless and pointless you are not a better leftist for maintaining internal misery 24/7 as some sort of penance you are a danger and a detriment to the community

[almanacp]

"All the leaders gathered round and said, "We must defend ourselves", "Hear, hear", and a scatter of laughs said, "I think this might work well." We'll expand our country till it's much too big to fail, when another nuclear power opposes then we'll set sail to a proxy war in a desert slum, kill all their civilians. We'll stop that fucking tyrant in their tracks while ours make millions.

I reckon we're all set for the domino effect, there was a child who stood 'em up before in an effort to impress so he could quell the threat of Islam, fucking scare the souls of communists. There's a Union Jack-sized hole in the palace of the terrorists.

When we've cleaned 'em out we'll have a poke around at the fountain of our spoils, what a lucky coincidence the terrorists had oil!" - 'We Must Defend Ourselves' by 'Seb Lowe'

[heartstoppercomic]

Chapter 8 - 51 (end of chapter 8)

Now I can see it.

Read Heartstopper Online

More info/buy the books: https://aliceoseman.com/

Heartstopper updates three times a month, on the 1st, 11th, and 21st at 11am UK time.

The next Heartstopper update will be its final update and it will be an epilogue. It'll drop on April 11th! Thank you for being here! ❤️

[aughtpunk]

That Time a Published Author Told Me to Un-Queer My Novel

So, I don't think I ever shared this story on Tumblr before.

As you may know I've spent the past ten years turning my old Welcome to Night Vale fanfic into a stand alone novel called Echo of the Larkspur. Now, I haven't been working on it ten years straight. I'd pick it up, do a bunch of editing and rewriting, submit it to agents/publishers, get turned down, put the book away, wait 2-3 years, dust off the book, re-edit and rewrite, etc etc. A cycle that repeated itself far too many times that I would like.

Well, during one of these cycles when I was in the 'get rejected by every agent and publisher I submit to' stage I asked the writing group I was in what I was doing wrong. Because at this point I had reached a hundred total rejections and I was starting to suspect that the issue was with me.

One of the members of this writing group, a male author who was traditionally published, offered to read my first chapter and give his advice on how to fix it. This was, in retrospect, a mistake. But I was desperate. I sent him the first chapter and waited for his response.

Folks. The email he sent me changed my life.

First he said that agents wouldn't publish my novel because it was Sci-fi with hardcore gay erotica in it. This is curious because while the book certainly is queer, at no point in the conversation with this man did I say it was hardcore erotica. Nor did the first chapter feature any. It's almost as if he assumed that just because something was gay, it had to be hardcore erotica. Interesting.

He went on to say that a Human/Robot pairing was weird and that there was "No Way" my story could seriously address the issues of a relationship like that. Once again, he only read the first chapter. He just...assumed I wouldn't think of that? And that my book wouldn't cover it?

The author then said “I also felt that the LGBTQ inclusion really seems to cloud things.” Direct Quote.

And then this is when he said my favorite quote of them all:

The idea of a book being a sci-fi with romance AND a mystery is a Modern Art Marzipan Owl. It's just too confusing! No one can handle a story that is a mystery in a sci-fi enviroment AND has a romantic subplot! THEIR BRAINS WOULD LITERALLY EXPLODE!

Thankfully he had a solution to my book problem. His answer? Turn the book into an Action Spy Thriller and turn S.A.G.E., a robot that identies as a gay man, into a sexy lady robot who needs a MAN to teach her what it means to be human.

(I assume the male lead will teach the 'confused' female robot how to be human via his penis.)

Now my favorite part about this advice is that at no point did he outright say "Remove the gay part". No, instead he sneakily changed the robot love interest into a female robot as if I wouldn't notice. Just sort of swept away the gay bits as something totally unneeded and just mucking up the narrative. Also that's not the plot of my story, I have no idea where this virus thing came from.

(Also note that the female robot can't be robotic-like at all. Must preserve the average straight-man sex drive at all costs I guess)

He then finished his email basically saying that I should remove everything that 'traditional publishers' don't like (aka the queer parts) and make it easier for 'your average reader' to digest and my book will be good as published!

When I said this email changed my life I meant it. Because it made me realize I'd rather be self published and unknown than traditionally publish milquetoast trash like he suggested. Like holy fuck. If I removed all of the "Difficult" to digest stories out of Echo of the Larkspur then there wouldn't be a book left!

So here I am. Self publishing my Marzipan Modern Art Owl of a book. I know it'll never see the inside of a bookstore or top the charts on Goodreads but hey, I'd rather it speak to one person than have a thousand people get excited for the part where the male lead teaches the lady robot how to be human (via his penis).

If a Queer Sci-fi/Romance/Mystery novel sounds like your jam then consider preordering it!

Looking for something to read now? Can't afford the book? Willing to read in exchange for an honest review? You can join my ARC book readers here!

[quinnandersonwrites]

Congratulations! Also that guy was just dead wrong because @hazeldomain published a human/robot gay romance as well.

[hazeldomain]

We need a bookstore that lets us filter with tags like on Ao3, because publishers are losing way too many multifaceted books because they can’t advertise it with three tropes.

[straythoughtshopelesshearts]

Can I get my hands on a physical copy please

[aughtpunk]

For reasons I cannot comprehend Amazon doesn't let you preorder physical copies. They'll be on sale July 23rd, the same day the digital version comes out.

And for those who don't do Amazon (totally fair) my book will be put up for sale on other websites like B&N, Kobo, and Itch.io 90 days after the Amazon release.

Follow me for updates and more general SCREAMING

[aughtpunk]

So uh it has been pointed out that I never actually said what the plot of the novel is in this post so LET ME FIX THAT REAL QUICK: “The sole survivor of a massacre, Dr. Ciro Kwakkenbos, has spent the last six years in intensive therapy. He’s finally capable of working with Artificial Intelligence again—and comes to the Ceres colony determined to prevent robots from committing any future atrocities. When he arrives, Ciro realizes the robot in charge of the colony’s security, S.A.G.E. (Sentient Automated Geo-sentinel Engineer), is dangerously close to complete sentience. S.A.G.E. is more interested in observing the colonists’ everyday lives (and matching them with appropriate musical soundtracks) than following its intended programming. Robots aren’t supposed to be charming, kind, or compassionate, either. But as Ciro investigates, he discovers S.A.G.E. has learned how to lie and—possibly—harm and kill humans. Worse, S.A.G.E.’s memories have been hacked, deleting a deadly secret. Despite the danger S.A.G.E. poses, Ciro can’t deny the feelings growing between them. Now Ciro must unravel the truth behind the missing memories—before S.A.G.E. and the colony are doomed.”

I hope y'all love Ciro and S.A.G.E. as much as I do.

And Huggabot. But Huggabot is a whole 'nother thing.

[aughtpunk]

ATTENTION! Due to a slight hiccup the physical copies of Echo of the Larkspur will be released on July 26th! The ebook will still be available the 23rd! Mark your calendars! And if you want a signed copy drop me a line!

Thank you for your patience!

[aughtpunk]

ECHO OF THE LARKSPUR IS NOW AVAILABLE ON AMAZON!

[aughtpunk]

Echo of the Larkspur is now Darn Near Everywhere! Click here for the list of websites its now available at!

Paperback and Hardcover now available at Barnes and Noble!

[wakingfromthewater]

Tumblrites, the hour has come for us to practice one of our most sacred rituals.

Likes to charge, reblogs to cast.

[rorbison]

Comedians in the '70s and cartoons in the '90s: weird how your kids can watch violence and murder on TV but the FCC wants us dead if we say the word nipple.

Internet users in 2025: you didn't warn me that there would be erotic themes in the game you just mentioned which is fucked up because I thought it was going to be a normal "morally struggle with killing people" game but now it's gone too far :-/

[rorbison]

A lot of you are playing into a lot more reactionary of hands than I think you would like when you act like tits are more shocking than gun violence.

[rorbison]

We need to call people posers again. We gotta. We just gotta. No you aren't a countercultural weirdo because you made a battle jacket, you get tangibly viscerally uncomfortable if someone is breast feeding in public and that is incredibly square of you.

[charlesoberonn]

[dysphoria-things]

is it a hot take to say that i think you need to understand why something is bad, not just that it simply is?

[dysphoria-things]

this is a part of the problem

[dysphoria-things]

you need to be able to explain why you shouldnt use ai rather than “oh well its obviously bad and you shouldnt use it or else youre a bad person” because that isn’t logic. “ai generates child porn based off of real children and whether or not it does is entirely up to how it is built and if pedophiles are able to find ways around those safeguards, because ai cannot in itself discern right from wrong” is a genuine criticism. “amazon tried to build a data center the size of tuson outside of tuson just to power their ai that would’ve increased the inability to stay alive outside in parts of arizona” is a genuine criticism. even “using generative ai teaches you not to learn how to do things yourself even when they’re difficult, devaluing necessary skills out of practice” is a genuine criticism when you look at the amount of people who think they are able of doing a difficult major when they couldnt write their own papers in high school.

but “ai is just bad because it’s bad” will convince no one and is a morally lazy position to take. about anything!

you need to know why reading someone’s diary is wrong if you want to learn about privacy and respect. you need to know why child sexual assault is wrong if you want to be able to help children form healthy age appropriate relationships. you need to know why capitalism is bad if you want to replace it with something else. you need actual concrete ideas and ideologies rather than “you should agree with me because i have the right vibe”

[autistic-af]

Source ~ Neurodivergent_Lou

Alt Text added to each image.

Note: these are different ways these can show up. They can also show up in a stereotypical way. If you've met one autistic, you've met one autistic.

[teaboot]

REALLY

FUCKING ALL OF THEM??!?!?!!

[fluffmugger]

[leninthesixth]

you gotta include this photo

[cumpriest]

ağlıycam

[lilli-sturmreiter]

[dovewithscales]

This is it. The internet has come full circle. You can all go home now. We’re done.

[blackheartbiohazards]

"I don't want to read this" is totally valid.

"This is disgusting to me" is totally valid.

"I don't want to read this because it is disgusting to me" is totally valid.

"I don't think anyone should be allowed to read or write this because it is disgusting to me" is authoritarian.

[blackheartbiohazards]

"I don't think anyone should be allowed to read or write this because it is disgusting to me" is authoritarian.

[spellscarred]

Bro, blocking someone and then using their tag like this is, all offence, weak as fuck. Like all you had to say was, na bro I don't promote pedo protags on this here blog, because I wholly agree with the premise of your argument given contexts (i.e., writing abusive relationships to show the evils, great; writing abusive relationships to show the romance, yikes).

This response is so, so comically shitty within the context of that tag, oh my god.

[blackheartbiohazards]

"I don't think anyone should be allowed to read or write this because it is disgusting to me" is authoritarian.

[blackheartbiohazards]

"I don't think anyone should be allowed to read or write this because it is disgusting to me" is authoritarian.

[blackheartbiohazards]

"Censorship of some topics in fiction and art is good and I would be happy if it were to be enacted in a way I approved of"

and

"some things should be banned from ever being written or read about in fiction"

are both authoritarian viewpoints to hold and express, even if you don't have the power to enact them.

If you hold these viewpoints you are holding authoritarian viewpoints.

[averageidiotenby]

DUDE IT’S PEDO FICS EVERYBODY THINKS THEY’RE NASTY

[blackheartbiohazards]

Let me explain this to you in simple terms.

Something being nasty is not a good reason to ban fiction about it.

If we accept that "something being nasty is a good reason to bad fiction about it" then we give a foot in the door for all the people who truly, genuinely believe that queer people are nasty to ban all queer literature.

This is not about defending bad people this is about defending the freedom of good people from tyranny, you moron.

[kawaii-pigeon]

I think if you take it to its logical extreme. Say, banning people from writing stories of sexual abuse. That could then be said "well ANY talk about sexual abuse is bad."

And from that, you could ban books that talk about it irl. Or books like how to recover after being abuse. If its not something to be discussed AT ALL.

[plague-of-insomnia]

The fact that I’ve seen this post in some form on my dash like 100x and each time there’s new idiots who do not get that you can’t have *some* censorship.

Either you’re for it or you aren’t.

The moment you agree that something should never, ever exist in fiction is the moment that anything can be banned.

Remember a while back how Tumblr banned a bunch of tags, including many popular innocuous ones that even people who are for censorship used and were upset about?

When censorship happens, stuff YOU like can and will be banned. That’s how it works.

Remember how a bunch of people had their accounts terminated here only last year for writing about their own sexual abuse?

When you ban “pedo” topics, say, any talk of child sexual abuse in any form, that means people can no longer write about their own experiences. It means people cannot educate others so they can learn how to protect themselves or get help from these situations.

Censorship is authoritarian. Full stop.

Even if “everyone” agrees something is “gross” and “shouldn’t exist,” that does not fucking matter.

Do you know who generally believes queer people are gross and shouldn’t exist??

The same people who are banning books left and right solely because they have queer characters or relationships.

The same people who attack and kill queer folk for simply exisiting.

This is not just some fandom matter or a case of being chronically online.

Protecting freedom of expression is essential, and if you do not get that, I don’t know what to say to you.

[scientia-rex]

And the people who keep bringing up child sex abuse as a reason for censorship are doing it very specifically because everyone feels like then they HAVE to agree with the person in favor of censorship.

It’s not that there isn’t widespread societal agreement on this. It’s that they want you backed into a rhetorical corner where you feel compelled to agree with them.

[ruffboi-mags]

Also, like, we KNOW how this shit shakes out in fandom because it's happened before.

In 2007, Livejournal capitulated to the "pedophilia and sex crimes!" cries of (hate group) Warriors 4 Innocence, and you know what communities got shut down? Slashfic communities. Sexual assault survivor support communities. Authors who'd written non-smut m/m fic even got caught up in it. It was DEVASTATING to fandom spaces. I think pretty much everyone knew at least one person whose account was literally DELETED, or were a member of a community that was wiped off the map because they were considerate enough to include topics like "sexual assault" or "BDSM" in the profiles under the badly-named category of "interests" to indicate that posts on said blogs or communities may include discussion of things like that. Even if it was for a SUPPORT group. And it was because a group of religious bigots came to LJ and said essentially "EVERYONE thinks it's gross and that it's promoting CSA, we should ban it."

Like, strikethrough and boldthrough were a large part of what propelled AO3 out of a more unfocused conversation on one person's blog about hosting a site INTENDED for fandom content, into being an actual archive and nonprofit. And it's a large part of why you won't find AO3 banning topics that you find "gross".

Censorship is authoritarian and it will ALWAYS have more collateral damage than you can imagine.

[nyxelestia]

Going to add that fiction which had sexual abuse and communities which played around with it as a writing topic are the very things that protected me from irl sexual abuse when I was a teenager. I was in a dicey situation, and realized that while my situation did not match up to any of the superficial or textbook cases mentioned in passing (if at all) through school, it matched up a LOT to what I'd learned about irl sexual abuse through works of fiction and the rhetoric of my communities. I got out of that situation and dodged what was, in retrospect, one hell of a nasty bullet. If it hadn't been for that "nasty" fiction and those "nasty" communities, I would very likely have been abused, and subject to further violence spiraling out from that abuse.

[benjis-house-boat]

you can’t have *some* censorship.

[the-real-seebs]

Yup! It really is, in fact, pretty much that simple:

"I don't think anyone should be allowed to read or write this because it is disgusting to me" is authoritarian.

[senirac]

Storytime!

I had a friend. We were 12. We had just discovered fanfiction and were obsessed. We read anything and everything we could get our hands on. One of the stories we read was a "pedo fic." It exposed us to scenarios and language that hadn't ever been touched on in Sex Ed at school or with our parents. To be frank, it "corrupted our young minds with topics we shouldn't have to deal with." It also gave my friend words to finally describe why her neighbor creeped her out so much. "He's creepy and weird" gets a 12 year old scolded and lectured on being nicer. "He's a sexual predator" gets adults asking questions and involving the cops. Her neighbor "moved away."

Censorship is pro-pedo and anti-child-safety. There is no communicating what's wrong if there are no words to describe what's happening. Bad things will happen whether you have the words to ask for help or not. Censorship takes those words away.

"I don't think anyone should be allowed to read or write this because it is disgusting to me" is authoritarian.

[nomsfaultau]

“Bad things will happen whether you have the words to ask for help or not. Censorship takes those words away.”

[almanacp]

Here are all of the Epstein Files that have either been leaked or released.

https://joshwho.net/EpsteinList/gov.uscourts.nysd.447706.1320.0-combined.pdf (verified court documents)

https://joshwho.net/EpsteinList/black-book-unredacted.pdf (verified pre-Bondi) Trump is on page 85, or pdf pg. 80

Here's the flight logs https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21165424-epstein-flight-logs-released-in-usa-vs-maxwell/

Trump’s name is circled. The circled individuals are the ones involved in the trafficking ring according to the person who originally released the book.  These people would be “The List “ Here is the story.

—————————other Epstein Information

https://cdn.factcheck.org/UploadedFiles/Johnson_TrumpEpstein_Calif_Lawsuit.pdf here’s a court doc of Epstein and Trump raping a 13 yr old together.

Some people think this claim is a hoax.  Here is Katies testimony on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnib-OORRRo

Jeffrey Epstein’s Ex Says He Boasted About Being a Mossad Agent https://share.google/jLMGahKlCzfV1RHZq Jeffrey Epstein and Israel have both have the same lawyer Alan Dershowitz Dershowitz says he's building 'legal dream team' to defend Israel in court and on international stage | The Times of Israel https://share.google/Lb9hDOduBWG4Elpid

—————————other Trump information:

Here's trump admitting to peeping on 14-15 year old girls at around 1:40 on the Howard Stern Radio Show: https://youtu.be/iFaQL_kv_QY?si=vBs75kaxPjJJThka

Trump's promise to his daughter: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-ivanka-trump-dating-promise_n_57ee98cbe4b024a52d2ead02 “I have a deal with her. She’s 17 and doing great ― Ivanka. She made me promise, swear to her that I would never date a girl younger than her,” Trump said. “So as she grows older, the field is getting very limited.”

Trump's modeling agency was probably part of Jeffreys pipeline: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/08/donald-trump-model-management-illegal-immigration/

Do your part and spread them around like a meme sharing them and saving them helps too!

AND

Reminder:

•⁠Trump Confesses He Was ‘Sexually Attracted’ to Ivanka When She Was 13 Years Old

•⁠https://www.politicalflare.com/2024/07/trump-confesses-he-was-sexually-attracted-to-ivanka-when-she-was-13-year-old/

•⁠Donald Trump called his own daughter a ‘voluptuous piece of a**’ in yet more lewd comments threatening to derail his White House bid

•⁠https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1940073/donald-trump-called-his-own-daughter-a-voluptuous-piece-of-a-in-yet-more-lewd-comments-threatening-to-derail-his-white-house-bid

•⁠Donald Trump Once Joked He and Ivanka Have “Sex” in Common

•⁠https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/politics-news/donald-trump-once-joked-he-ivanka-have-sex-common-941600/

•⁠Trump’s lewd talk about daughter Ivanka in front of White House staff recalled in new book

•⁠https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/trumps-lewd-talk-about-daughter-ivanka-in-front-of-white-house-staff-recalled-in-new-book/

According to The New Republic, “’Aides said he talked about Ivanka Trump’s breasts, her backside and what it might be like to have sex with her, remarks that once led [former Chief of Staff] John Kelly to remind the president that Ivanka was his daughter,’ Taylor, who served as a Department of Homeland Security chief of staff under Trump, wrote in his book.”

•⁠"You remind me of my daughter": Stormy Daniels testifies that Trump compared her to Ivanka

•⁠https://www.salon.com/2024/05/07/you-remind-me-of-my-daughter-stormy-daniels-testifies-that-compared-her-to-ivanka/#:~:text=At%20one%20point%2C%20Daniels%20said,his%20underwear%20on%20the%20bed.

•⁠Donald Trump's comments about daughter raise eyebrows

•⁠https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2016/10/11/donald-trump-comments-about-daughter-ivanka-feyerick-dnt-erin.cnn

•⁠Trump told Howard Stern it’s OK to call Ivanka a ‘piece of a--'

•⁠https://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/trump-ivanka-piece-of-ass-howard-stern-229376

•⁠Trump: ‘If Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her’

•⁠https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-ivanka-trump-creepiest-most-unsettling-comments-a-roundup-a7353876.html

•⁠Trump on Ivanka: ‘She has the ‘best body’ — and I created her’

•⁠https://forward.com/schmooze/357185/7-creepy-things-donald-trump-has-said-about-ivanka/

•⁠Trump: ‘Is it wrong to be more sexually attracted to your own daughter than your wife’?

•⁠https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/tamerragriffin/trump-asked-if-its-wrong-to-be-attracted-to-his-daughter#.muLN7d3M2

•⁠Trump Encouraged His Own Daughter Ivanka to Release a Sex Tape, and She Was Horrified

•⁠https://www.salon.com/2019/08/06/donald-trump-encouraged-his-eldest-daughter-to-release-a-sex-tape_partner/

Bonus:

•⁠Trump: commenting on his 1-year-old daughter Tiffany’s breasts. He also says “she’s got Marla’s legs.”

Double Bonus:

For the better part of two decades starting in the late 1980s, Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump swam in the same social pool. They were neighbors in Florida. They jetted from LaGuardia to Palm Beach together. They partied at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club and dined at Epstein’s Manhattan mansion.

•⁠https://archive.md/XK0A7#selection-655.0-655.290

and...

MC2 (pronounced MC squared) was the modeling agency that Epstein, Brunel, and the mob would use to get trafficked girls into the US with “genius visas”

•⁠https://wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-scoops/former-model-agent-close-to-jeffrey-epstein-found-hanged-1235085929/

and...

Nicknamed the "Einstein Visa", the EB-1 is in theory reserved for people who are highly acclaimed in their field - the government cites Pulitzer, Oscar, and Olympic winners as examples - as well as respected academic researchers and multinational executives.

Mrs Trump began applying for the visa in 2000, when she was Melania Knauss, a Slovenian model working in New York and dating Donald Trump. She was approved in 2001, one of just five people from Slovenia to win the coveted visa that year, according to the Post.

•⁠https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43256318

[infimace-blog]

Everything I hear about the Lilo & Stitch revival somehow makes me angrier. Like,

That realization also led the filmmaking team to divide the character of Cobra Bubbles, Lilo's social worker in the animated film, into a CIA agent of the same name (Courtney B. Vance) and the new role of Mrs. Kekoa (Tia Carrere). "If the dramatic stakes of Lilo is that she's going to get separated from her sister, then you need a person who actually services those stakes in a credible way," Fleischer Camp says. "You can get away with that being Cobra Bubbles in an animated film — a 6-foot-5 huge dude with 'Cobra' tattooed on his knuckles is somehow a social worker in that world."

Hey. Hey, Director Dean Fleischer Camp. Why is a large black man with tattoos having a job as a social worker something you consider so ridiculous that it could only exist in animation? Why are you carefully sidestepping the fact that he is the only black character in the original film? Is it somehow more realistic to turn him into a figure who only interacts with the family through the lens of government defense against extraterrestrials? Or does the idea of a scary looking black man caring about the well-being of people's families confuse you, you racist piece of shit?

[infimace-blog]

Like, yes, a black character whose entire presence is built around being massive and scary is usually Bad, but Lilo & Stitch actually flipped the script there. He is cold and aloof because he's professional, and he's professional because he does care about doing his job and protecting children. The minute he can parse the argument for Lilo and Stitch staying with Nani, he goes for it immediately. Behind the shades and the suit is a man who honestly wants the best for these two sisters and is audibly distraught when he thinks the best outcome is separating them.

It's not just, like, blatantly racist to take that out of his character, but it's also making the film more shallow in opposition to the themes of the franchise. The point of Lilo & Stitch is that there's the potential for good in everything and everyone. The leads are seen as inherently troublemakers by society because one's a social misfit (and arguably neuroatypical) and the other one's a furry xenomorph, but ultimately their better aspects shine through to everyone. Jumba and Pleakley are initially threats but they become mentoring figures to the family. The entire TV series focused around Lilo finding places in society for all of Jumba's previous genetic experiments so they aren't written off as threats to society. Cobra Bubbles is operating in that same milieu.

It is, frankly, exactly what I would expect from the people who wrote 'Lilo and Nani get separated but there's a teleport gun so it's fine' as a happy ending.

[mikkeneko]