ok so it's probably time to talk about clone trooper sister and queen's hope. e.k.j. said "sister doesnât have a huge part in the book, so we didnât want to use her existence as promo." despite this, e.k. commissioned and posted art of sister, which implied to me that sister was a minor character that at least had something of a role. this is something of an exaggeration. sister's role is to appear for the latter half of page 117 and the first half of page 118, and have a terribly written conversation with anakin, transcribed here. once again, spoilers ahead.
âWhat's your name, trooper?"
"Sister," she said. "It's how my brothers tell everyone I belong."
"Belonging is important," Anakin said. He knew that better than most.
"I was afraid, before I left Kamino," Sister said. "We don't really know what happens to unusual clones. But my brothers never let me doubt. I wasn't sure if the Jedi would understand."
"The Jedi are all about transcending things." Anakin said. "I don't think we can complain if you've transcended gender."
"Transcended gender," Sister said. "We'll work on it, but I like where it's heading."
sister appears to line up several dead clone troopers helmets as a memorial, have this stilted conversation, and then never appears in the story again. i can't emphasize enough that this is awful. i think any trans reader would catch that having your trans character show up for one page to say that she's trans, and imply that a cisgender character comes up with the term transgender and taught it to a trans character is terrible, which just leads me to believe that this book had no sensitivity reader. the whole thing reeks of white savior, which is only compounded by the fact that sister is polynesian and anakin has a position of power over her. (EDIT: i just saw a post from e.k. on twitter saying that she had a sensitivity reader. this passage reads as really bad to every trans person i've shown it to and myself, a trans person. was this somehow.... worse before?) this whole passage reads as a pat on the back from the author to herself for how diverse her book is! for deigning to have a trans character whose only role is to show up, say that she is trans, and leave!
this is, perhaps, where e.k's tweets on the matter come in.
i.d: two tweets by e.k. johnston reading "Being inclusive (ie realistic) is so damn easy. Even if your story doesn't have time to go into it, just opening the door to the world means something. And then you become a better writer! It's win-win.â and âHere are some tips on how NOT to talk about trans characters: 1. Don't imply they're a mistake. Trans people are not mistakes. 2. Don't imply they're engineered. It's a soul thing, and in Star Wars, you can't engineer a soul.â end i.d
this second tweet, in particular, feels very much like talking over trans voices on how to write trans characters well. itâs not e.kâs place to be providing these insights, especially as she finishes up this tweet chain by saying that she âlearned all these thingsâ from writing sister. if you had to learn that trans people are not mistakes in the process of writing this book, i donât know what to say except that your voice is not the one that trans people want to hear in regards to trans issues. once again, it feels like a pat on the back to herself for "being inclusive" without putting in the work to make her book contain good representation. there is also little consideration given to sisterâs identity as a polynesian woman. ivy @queen-breha-organa was talking last night about how historically, Polynesian gender identity can't be compared to, and is far more complex than the Western gender binary, and something like "transcending" gender wouldn't really be a thing in polynesian cultures. iâm not polynesian and cannot speak for that community, but ivy made a fantastic post about that here.
in addition to sister, there is another trans character in this book, tepoh, who is nonbinary and uses zhe/zher pronouns. while i appreciate the inclusion and normalization of characters who use neopronouns, tepoh also has a very small role. in fact, the main scene that zhe appears in also includes discussion of zher gender, something that isnât necessary to clarify that zhe is transgender, as zher pronouns already make it clear. portions of the section are transcribed below.
âI think you would have made an excellent handmaiden, and Iâm glad you chose to join me.â
âI was pleased, too,â zhe said. âSometimes I wake up and I want to be perceived as some degree of female, but sometimes I donât.â [...]
âI think I would have enjoyed it,â zhe said. âMaybe they would have let me wear a guard uniform sometimes. Those are quite dashing. But I think Iâll be happier with you. It took me some time to figure myself out, and I think Iâll serve Naboo better this way. I like being myself.â [...]
âThereâs a lot to be said for being yourself.â
again we see another scene of a trans character discussing that zheâs trans and zheâs accepted as zher main contribution to the story.
i'm going to conclude this by saying that if e.k. wanted to include good trans representation in queen's hope, then she should've looked at how e.m. candon provided good trans representation in their star wars book, ronin: a visions novel. a nonbinary person is a main character and their gender isn't remarked upon. fox/the traveller isn't in the story just to be representation. they have a narrative and significance. there are also two minor transmasc characters, who once again serve narrative purpose beyond being transgender, and their gender identites are remarked upon as vaguely as hormones and a switch of dorms being mentioned.
warnings: nsfw, 18+; oral sex in the bat suit god bless; bruce creams his jeans leather; bruce kind of a subâŠ
Bruce stumbles out of the armored car, cape swishing behind him, the squeal of his leather boots rubbing against the leather of his suit.
You stand at the desks of tech equipment, shutting down equipment heâll no longer be needing. He grips your hips from behind, dipping his head to speak into your ear, âI need you.â
You raise a hand to feel the cool leather of his mask, pulling his lips to kiss at your neck. âGet on your knees.â
The room is quiet, save for quiet flapping of wings and the humming of the fluorescent lights. Bruce eases himself onto the concrete floor in front of you, his chest heaving.
You pull the desk chair away from the bright monitors, sitting against the cool fabric. Bruce inches closer on his knees, leather squeaking when he raises his muscled arms to stroke your calves.
His lips press a kiss to your knee, his lips warm even through the fabric of your leggings, âPlease,â he croaks out.
Bruce hooks his fingers in the waistband of your leggings, pretty eyes looking up at you, waiting for permission. You give it to him in the form of lifting your hips, letting him pull the right fabric from your body.
The groan he lets out at the sight of your bare cunt is heavenly, he takes his bottom lip between his teeth, biting to restrain himself. Leather scrapes against the concrete as he positions himself, a large hand falls between his legs to position himself, there, too.
Bruce is shrouded in shadow even in the harsh full light of the cave, the cape falling around his broad shoulders, the only beams of light coming from his light eyes, his pleading eyes. And even then that light is almost extinguished, his pupils blown so wide. âCan I?â
âYeah,â you gasp, hand resting between the bat ears on his helmet. He gives you no time to prepare, his hot mouth envelopes your clit, a gravely fuck leaving his lips.
Obscene sounds fill the room, bouncing off the stone walls and ricocheting in your ears. The nose of his mask digs into your mound, delicious pinpoint of pain distracted by the way Bruce sucks and licks like a man starved.
He doesnât stop for a breath, he focuses on your clit with precision; his eyes never close, they stay studying your face, your tits, your belly. His hand loosens itâs grip on your thigh, through hooded eyes you watch it disappear beneath the cape.
He grows louder, you hear him groan, âPlease, come. Please, I need it. I need to feel it.â The only time Bruce Wayne, the Batman, rambles is when heâs on his knees for you, when heâs desperate for you.
You let go, your thighs close around his head, the cool leather icy against your hot skin. Your heels dig into his armored back, and Bruceâs lips suck tighter at your clit.
What sends you into overdrive is when his thick arm whips back his cape. His hard cock presses an outline into the leather of his pants, bucking into the palm of his hand while licks at your clit with ravenous strokes.
You come down from your high, loosen your thighs, staring deep into his eyes. Bruceâs lips meet your inner thigh and he pleads, âCan I come? Please, God, I need to hear you say it, tell me I can come.â
âCome,â you gasp, âCome for me, Batman.â He loses it then, you can tell. âBig, strong Batman,â you taunt, âOn his knees, coming in his fucking pants.â
You stroke his jaw with your hand, his head falling to rest in your palm while he milks every drop of cum from his throbbing cock. âThatâs it,â you coo. âThatâs it, baby.â
He presses a kiss to the palm of your hand, slumping forward against you. âGoddamnit,â he gasps.
âYou need to get out of the suit,â you whisper. âNeed to see if youâre hurt.â
He finally stands, approaching the desks, pealing the contacts from his eyes. Damn contacts.
Bruce smirks, fast-forwarding the footage until he sees you above him, âYouâre so pretty.â
really have to ask, what was the reasoning for the only handmaiden of color being a criminal while her white counterparts all came from "educated backgrounds" or whatever
the words âcriminalâ and âconwomanâ were quite literally used to describe her??
âif you read her as a criminal thatâs on youâ - how were we supposed to read her after that very word was used to describe her throughout the book?
5 Facts About The Overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
This is an excerpt from an article written by âÄina Momona, a KÄnaka Maoli focused community organization. The full article is linked below.
â1) 129 years ago today a coup backed by the United States military overthrew the sovereign country of HawaiÊ»i. The coup was made up of subjects of the Hawaiian Kingdom who were of American descent, as well as American citizens. They included sugar plantation owners, business owners, and descendants of American missionaries. These men were proponents of HawaiÊ»iâs annexation to the U.S.
2) On January 16 1893, the coup held a public meeting to denounce the Queen and gain support for annexation. Only a thousand people attended, nearly all of them white males. U.S. Minister Stevens backed the committee and decided to land 300 American troops that same day to prevent the destruction of American lives and property.
3) On January 17, Queen Liliʻuokalani was forced to surrender her throne under the force of the U.S. military and the threat of war. President Cleveland investigated the overthrow and deemed it a war crime. He later denied having any involvement in the investigation. The U.S. continued their ploy of Manifest Destiny and illegally occupied the sovereign nation of Hawaiʻi.
4) In 1897, U.S. President McKinley signed a treaty of annexation for the Republic of HawaiÊ»i which was never ratified by the United States. In April 1898, the United States went to war with Spain. The Nation of HawaiÊ»i had demonstrated its value as a naval base and was allegedly âannexedâ through the Newlands Resolution, by way of Congressional-executive agreement method, which requires only a majority vote in both houses. This is not a formal process of annexation.
5) There is no treaty of annexation between HawaiÊ»i and the United States. The Newlands Resolution was not a formal process of annexation and only made the Kingdom of HawaiÊ»i and its citizens prisoners of war. Schools across America and in HawaiÊ»i teach that HawaiÊ»i was annexed by the U.S. in 1898. This is not true. HawaiÊ»i is still illegally occupied by the United States today. â
Full article here:
On the anniversary of the overthrow of our Nation, and every other day, we must remind ourselves that sovereignty, ea, exists in the minds a
I have officially decided to try my hand at digital art! Decided to start off by colouring a drawing I originally did with pencil just to get used to it. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out! Original sketch below cut. Also tumblr butchered it so click for better quality!
Millennial men whose understanding of the Trojan War comes exclusively from Troy (2004) and teenage girls whose understanding of the Trojan War comes exclusively from The Song of Achilles: fight
Okay so like, I knew the Tusken tribe was eventually going to die. The Book of Boba Fett seems to be playing it very safe narrative wise, and I could see the âheroâs journeyâ arc a mile away, and a huge part of that arc is usually the death of the mentor (In this case, the Tuskens)
That doesnât make it like. Fucking okay though. Star Wars, at itâs heart is a space western, and the problem with westerns if theyâre often rooted in deeply racist ideals and tropes, and killing off an entire Indigenous tribe to further character development is something that happens a lot in westerns and itâs something I hate so unbelievably much.
Indigenous peoples rarely get any representation as a an entire tribal group, and almost always, that entire tribe is killed off. Iâm just really sick of the âdeath of the Nativesâ trope.
Also. So far, all the episodes directed by Robert are the weakest. I had hoped he didnât direct any more after the weird portrayal of the Tuskens in episode one, and then as soon as this episode started I knew it was him. The difference between last week and this weeks portrayal of Indigenous people is like night and day and I really hate it. And itâs not the storylines, but the execution of the storylines. There was a way for them to have this arc make sense narratively and appropriately. There was a way to make their death work and not be super dismissive and tone deaf, but this wasnât it.
