gladys from spin class

old. lesbian. communist. lost my old blog and now i don't understand how anything works.

[zoologayy]

Any Sevika / Grayson content come up? AO3 has nothing! Tags Bare!

@failed-to-do-good sent me a lil something they were writing on tumblr but AO3? Fuck all atm.

Tho, if anyone knows how to edit a long ass rp then... Hit me up 👀

[gladysfromspinclass]

real talk how does one translate a roleplay into a fic? let me know bc i cannot work my head around it.

[bloodraven55]

Grayson has the sexiest voice in Arcane and if you think otherwise then you are simply incorrect.

[leighlew3]

So-called “evidence” that Supercorp wasn’t queerbait:

- silly dismissive cast song after S2… lead by someone who soon left the show and wasn’t around for S4-6

- people referring to them as friends… while a showrunner called Dansen friends *after they kissed* and no one in power EVER said SC was “JUST friends” nor “only ever will be friends” for total clarity

- Kara saying “sisters”… in S3, while Lois called Clark her brother before they dated on L&C

- one writer seemingly denying SC… then deleting his tweet, denying his denial and saying “I never said that” when asked “so it will never happen?”

- other LGBTQ rep established in the show… AFTER Supercorp was already being shipped/baited, and as if there’s an invisible quota, or rep is interchangeable, or a rule that canon rep and queerbait can’t co-exist within the same property even when involving completely separate characters, and especially when it’s about supporting vs LEAD characters

Actual evidence Supercorp WAS queerbait:

- showrunner liking a “make Supercorp canon” tweet in December 2019

- SG writers liking tweets calling Kara GAY and in love with Lena, pointing out Clois comparisons, and more

- official SGCW account liking “Supercorp Endgame” comments

- official WB foreign affiliates asking people “Will this be the season it happens?” and/or repeatedly openly marketing SC as romantic

- numerous Clois parallels and scene recreations, dressing and framing Lena as her Lois type figure as far back as 2x01 and until the very end

- putting romantic music over their scenes more than once

- intercutting their scenes with canon romantic couples more than once

- paralleling their scenes with canon romantic couples multiple times

- other Arrowverse shows using nearly identical scenarios and even lines of dialogue between SC for their own canon romantic couples (including in wedding vows) and vice versa

- constantly utilizing traditional/classic/cliche romantic tropes and framing for their scenes and story arcs

- no official denials EVER from showrunners, EPs nor anyone in positions of power saying flat out it would or could never happen, despite many years and opportunities to put the debate and fan hopes to rest

- a S2/3 SG writer admitting to “rooting for them”, posting a script where she wrote the ship name into it saying the shippers would “squeal”, and a removed scene where Lena walks in and asks Kara to dinner right after Cat basically tells Kara love is still ahead for her (when she lost her prior romantic love interest)

- a S5-6 writer telling a SC fan in DM that many of the writers wants for the show were “largely in line with fans” while implying creative conflict with showrunners and higher ups

- actresses allowed to play up flirty vibes, longing looks, stolen glances, and more from beginning to end

- multiple lead cast including those involved in the ship and multiple guest stars blatantly supporting the ship via sharing or signing SC fan art, liking SC social media posts, openly encouraging shippers, using the ship hashtag, and more

- multiple reputable media outlets calling out the romanticism/queerbait

- other industry writers and showrunners throwing shade or making open criticism regarding the romanticism/queerbait

- dedicating the 100th episode to their relationship of all things in an episode framed like the Clois 200th Smallville ep, establishing traditionally romantic soulmatism, even showing Kara’s perfect world is where they’re “partners” with no other love interests around and there’s an inability to testify against each other in court, in an episode named after an iconic Holiday movie where a man wanted his normal but troubled life back after a cold version of his wife didn’t recognize him in a dark AU world, having Kara want her normal but troubled life back after a cold version of Lena didn’t recognize her in a dark AU world

- official DC Comics artists creating and posting their own SC fan art

- having heavily coded “coming out” (and conversion therapy) metaphors/analogies between SC especially in the finale and ending all other ships involving them over the years while leaving the two of them single and their story open-ended, side by side

- lead actress saying “sisterhood”, then explaining how sisterhood is all-encompassing and includes romantic wlw relationships

- co-star saying “we don’t really know” when asked flat out if the show would cater to the “Lena becomes Lex” demand or the “let SC kiss” demand

- a repeat SG director indicating after 5x01 aired that the confession scene was the closest the show had come at that point to openly exploring SC in a romantic way

- a S5-6 SG writer dodging the question about queerbait after the series finale, and effectively blaming higher ups and the hierarchy/process for how these things tend to go

- no industry standard post-finale interviews with the lead nor especially showrunners / EPs discussing the ending and TPTB just going into hiding the second the show was over

- refusal by the network to comment on the queerbaiting accusations when recently asked by a media outlet

- and more…

TLDR: At the end of the day, there’s approximately 5-ish weak and outdated arguments from ill-informed or ill-willed people for why it supposedly wasn’t queerbait. Yet there are DOZENS of reasons and TONS of hard evidence (some of it documented here) from beginning to end for why it WAS queerbait. This is not a case of “fandom entitlement”, fandom “delusion”, nor throwing the term queerbait around where it doesn’t apply. It applies. Fully. And is one of the worst cases in TV history, in fact.

All the stuff about actors, staff writers, media, and everything else listed above aside, it really just boils down to: NO outright denials of it being possible from TPTB nor anyone in a position of creative power. EVER. Not once. Because they obviously needed Supercorp fans to stay tuned in. Based on a false hope of the ship possibly being made canon by the end.

And THAT is queerbait. Which is a very harmful and outdated media practice when it comes to LGBTQ audiences.

Finis.

[duboisdraws]

Mythical creatures and their ‘opposites’. 

[nepenthean-sleep]

Jinx and the Portrayal of Psychosis in Arcane

Content warnings for: mental illness, psychosis, death mention, and unreality. Major spoilers for Arcane episodes 1-9.

[ID: A screenshot of Jinx from episode 9 of Arcane, sitting in her chair and looking sadly into the camera. The title of the analysis, “Jinx and the Portrayal of Psychosis in Arcane,” is superimposed on the image.]

Arcane has quickly become one of my all-time favorite shows. Much of my love for it stems from the breathtaking animation and stellar writing, but one of the biggest reasons why I love Arcane is the superb portrayal of Jinx’s struggle with mental illness, specifically borderline personality disorder and psychosis, though this essay will only focus on psychosis. As a psychotic person, finding good representation of psychosis in media is extremely difficult. However, Arcane portrayed Jinx’s psychosis in a respectful, sympathetic, non-romanticized, and honest way that I could personally relate to. I wanted to analyze this in hopes that it may bring more awareness to psychosis itself, as well as to explain this part of Jinx’s characterization to fans.

What is psychosis? First of all, psychosis is not a disorder. Psychosis is a psychiatric symptom with its own range of symptoms. Common symptoms of psychosis include disorganized behavior and/or thinking, catatonia, or changes in mood, personality, or daily activities, but the defining characteristic of psychosis is the presence of hallucinations and/or delusions (2). Hallucinations are sensory experiences that aren’t grounded in reality, such as smelling freshly baked cookies when there are none around. Hallucinations can be of any of the five senses, and they’re experienced as external (like hearing something through headphones), not internal (like hearing something in your head when you think). Delusions are vehemently strong beliefs that aren’t grounded in reality and are outside of the person’s cultural and religious beliefs, such as believing there’s a microchip in your hand when x-rays prove that there isn’t one. The main types of delusions are bizarre (literally incomprehensible to others) and non-bizarre. Non-bizarre delusions have several subtypes, but for this analysis, I will be focusing primarily on the most common type of delusion, paranoid delusions. Paranoid (also called “persecutory”) delusions typically involve the feeling that someone has or is trying to inflict harm on you or a loved one, such as thinking a coworker is trying to get you fired from your job. For more information about delusions, check out this Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delusion.

Anyone can experience psychosis, with about 3% of people having at least one psychotic episode during their lifetime, most commonly between the ages of 13 and 30 (2). Psychosis is also genetic, and it can appear as a symptom alongside a variety of physical, psychiatric, and drug-induced conditions (2, 1). It should also be noted that psychosis is typically not a permanent state. It occurs in three stages: prodromal, acute, and recovery. People who experience psychosis usually have temporary episodes that can last from days to months, and even during these episodes, people are typically not constantly experiencing delusions or hallucinations. Psychosis is also not a one-size-fits-all experience. Every psychotic person experiences psychosis differently. For a better understanding of psychosis, please check out https://www.earlypsychosis.ca/ or https://medicine.yale.edu/psychiatry/step/psychosis/.

Now, what is psychosis not? Psychosis IS NOT schizophrenia or dissociative identity disorder (DID, or “multiple personality disorder” or “split personality disorder”). Like I stated above, psychosis is a symptom. People with bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, personality disorders, and other mental health conditions can all experience psychosis as part of their disorder’s symptomatology. The presence of psychosis alone does not automatically indicate a diagnosis of schizophrenia or DID. Additionally, despite the colloquial usage of the word “psychotic” to mean “antisocial”, antisocial behavior (actions that harm others, such as violence) is not a symptom of psychosis. In fact, psychotic people are more likely to be a victim of antisocial behavior instead of a perpetrator (9).

From what we’ve seen in Act 1, I don’t believe that Jinx/Powder had psychotic episodes as a child. However, it’s obvious that the events of episode 3 were traumatic for Jinx, as they would have been for anyone in that situation, especially a child. Multiple studies have shown that psychosis can “emerge as a reaction to trauma” (4), and hallucinations themselves can be associated with childhood trauma (5). Psychotic people can have hallucinations of things associated with their trauma that are different from the “flashbacks” or “reliving” of PTSD (6, 8). Additionally, similar to PTSD, hallucinations can sometimes result from a trigger (7). Triggers can contribute to stress, stress exacerbates symptoms of psychosis, and psychosis can reintroduce triggers through hallucinations. Arcane shows this cycle multiple times throughout Acts 2 and 3, but it begins with Jinx’s encounter with the pink-haired Firelight in episode 4. From that moment on, Jinx begins a downward spiral into a worsening psychotic episode.

Arcane portrays Jinx’s auditory and visual hallucinations as resulting from both triggers (for example, seeing Vi’s face on the pink haired Firelight’s) and the stresses of those triggers and resulting actions (continuing with the previous example, hearing negative remarks from Mylo after her conversation with Silco about the pink haired Firelight). Most of Jinx’s auditory hallucinations are a negative, critical voice, typically Mylo’s (as he was often critical of her from what we saw in Act 1), consistent with a common type of auditory hallucination in those with borderline personality disorder (10). Through audio effects, Arcane shows that these voices are more muffled, like whispers or hearing voices through a wall. This is also common, as even among those who hear voices, the voices are not always clear like portrayed in media. Another type of hallucination Arcane portrayed was feeling of presence, specifically in the scene in episode 6 where Jinx sets off the signal to Vi and feels the presence of Mylo and Claggor at her back. This type of hallucination is more common in those with Parkinson’s, but it can occur in anyone, especially following bereavement (11, 12).

Jinx’s hallucinations aren’t random or utilized randomly as trite plot devices, they aren’t played for comedy or turned into a joke, and while the hallucinations are obviously distressing for Jinx, they aren’t used as a tool for horror. In fact, it is in showing how distressing the hallucinations are for Jinx (as they are for most psychotic people) that encourages the audience to be sympathetic towards her. Auditory hallucinations are scary, annoying, and frustrating, and Arcane did an excellent job of portraying Jinx’s reactions to her hallucinations in these ways, from dismissive hand-waving motions to anxious pacing. Additionally, Arcane manages to portray these visually as well, with “scratchy” and “sketchy” lines overlaid the animation and blurry, film-error like filters, all used to indicate to the audience that Jinx is experiencing an altered state of reality, a state where things aren’t exactly clear. While the sketchy lines are certainly reminiscent of Jinx’s handwriting and art style (perhaps as a nod to the fact that this is all specifically coming from *her* mind), the usage of these sketchy and scratchy lines visually shows the disorganized, anxious, and confused nature of her thought processes.

Jinx’s paranoid delusions don’t begin until episode 6, after Sevika plants the thought in Jinx’s head that Vi and Caitlyn are trying to get her arrested. While hallucinations and delusions can be separate, they can also work together to reinforce each other, as we begin to see in episode 6 with Jinx’s feelings towards Caitlyn. Jinx already distrusts Caitlyn: she’s a topsider, she’s an enforcer, and she has been directing Jinx’s long lost sister’s attention away from her. It’s easy for Jinx to antagonize her, and with the series of misunderstandings in episode 6, her paranoia only builds. This is a key factor of paranoid delusions: even things that may be considered misunderstandings or misinterpretations are “evidence” of the delusion to the person. Hallucinations, such as the one in episode 7 where Jinx sees Caitlyn mocking her, add to this and further corroborate Jinx’s delusion that Caitlyn is out to get her.

The most intense moment of this occurs in episode 8 during Singed’s operation. It’s clear from episode 5 that one of shimmer’s side effects is psychosis, as Vi hallucinates her mother and sister after drinking the potion. In psychotic people, certain drugs can induce and worsen psychosis, and this can be seen during and after the operation as Jinx’s hallucinations get more vivid and her delusions more intense. Jinx hallucinates Vi taking out a gun and shooting her younger self, before that form turns into Caitlyn, mocking Jinx as she holds her and her sister’s beloved bunny toy. Then, Jinx sees Caitlyn is the one performing the painful procedure, and Vi is by her side, encouraging Caitlyn to continue inflicting harm. This is all proof to Jinx that Caitlyn wants to harm her and “steal” Vi’s attention. Jinx’s actions at the end of episode 8 and in episode 9 are a direct result of this thought process.

It’s important to note that to an outside observer, such as the audience or Caitlyn and Vi during the “party” scene, Jinx’s belief that Caitlyn and Vi are trying to harm her is irrefutably false. It’s obvious by Vi’s characterization that she would never do such a thing, and Caitlyn, while untrusting of Jinx, doesn’t want to harm her. Even if someone was able to explain to Jinx that the hallucinations of Caitlyn doing such things never truly occurred, the damning part about psychosis and Jinx’s decreasing insight (being able to tell that you are experiencing symptoms) is that these things actually happened to her. This can be a confusing concept for non-psychotic people, so allow me to break this down.

While the delusions and hallucinations of psychosis are not real, the person experiences them as real events and as such, reacts to them with real emotions. For example, if you found out a loved one has passed away, you would experience a lot of grief and pain. A psychotic person with low insight experiencing a delusion of a loved one passing away is experiencing the exact same level of grief and pain. Then, during the recovery stage when the person is regaining insight, they have to struggle with the doubt of whether or not the person is still alive. The same thing happens in paranoid delusions, only the struggle is typically whether or not the person actually inflicted harm, and whether or not you can trust them again. Even though Vi and Caitlyn did not hurt her, to Jinx they did. Jinx’s pained reaction to this, while greatly intensified by her borderline personality disorder, is understandable considering this. Caitlyn tortured her. Vi betrayed her. This is what is reality to Jinx in the middle of her acute phase, and her actions are her reaction to that reality.

Arcane did an excellent job portraying psychosis. As someone who is very familiar with auditory and visual hallucinations and paranoid delusions, the show portrayed these in a way that was respectful, realistic, and personally relatable. Arcane did not romanticize Jinx’s struggles, nor did it use them for comedy or horror. I’m excited to see what the writers will do with next season, and I hope they are still able to portray Jinx as a complex individual struggling with mental illness, instead of a wacky manic pixie dream girl or a grimdark horror antagonist.

References

1 https://secure.medicalletter.org/w1301c

2 https://www.earlypsychosis.ca

3 https://medicine.yale.edu/psychiatry/step/psychosis/

4 http://www.sygdoms.com/pdf/trauma/7.pdf

5 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/psychological-medicine/article/abs/childhood-trauma-and-auditory-verbal-hallucinations/BDBF53626FA94620528359EEE87217DB

6 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01262/full

7 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0005791609001025

8 https://www.academia.edu/610273/Trauma_and_hallucinatory_experience_in_psychosis?auto=citations&from=cover_page

9 https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(20)30002-5/fulltext

10 D’Agostino, Alessandra; Rossi Monti, Mario; Starcevic, Vladan (2018). Psychotic symptoms in borderline personality disorder. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, Vol. 32 (Number 1), 22-26. doi:10.1097/YCO.0000000000000462

11 https://www.nature.com/articles/srep38152

12 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3382202/

[arcane-ish]

The one nitpick I have is that if the “scratchy things” are supposed to represent hallucinations them Powder had them before the trauma of episode 3.

The first instance of us seeing them is in in the very first scene in the very first episode actually where Powder peeks out between her fingers at a dead person and then “scratches” appear across the dead person’s face. 

Correction, the first appearance is actually a face of an enforcer being replaced with the scratches: 

And then the dead guy:

(because Vi clearly told Powder to cover her eyes, so she was not supposed to look at him)

The other big evidence of course being the Enemy music video (where of course you can debate to what extent that is supposed to be a canon representation of Powder’s frame of mind).

ETA: For my a real eye opener on this subject matter was some behind the scenes documentary on the video game Senua’s Sacrifice where one feedback they got from their consultants on the subject matter was that when Senua hears voices, they shouldn’t all be hostile. So Senua has voices that feed into her self doubt, but she also has useful voices like telling her to be alert to be careful in situations where it makes sense to be careful. 

I’m really interested if in season 2 a Silco voice will join the “choir” of voices after the events of the finale and whether it will be very different from the”Mylo” voice. 

[papurrcat]

ok but consider: grayson x sevika

I thought you meant mama Medarda and Sevika at first! But yes why not!

[gladysfromspinclass]

omg please 👀

[sotvrna-deactivated20250828]

me: trying to sleep my brain: it’s about how vi has gone years without being touched under a positive light and how she leans into every soft and caring touch cait gives her–

id: a series of three gifs from the show Arcane. the first is Vi calming down when Caitlyn cradles her face. the second is Vi’s point of view as she tightens a hug with Caitlyn. the third is a close up of Vi as Caitlyn brushes her fingers over her cheek. end id.

[guerrillatech]

[sedoretu]

omg that’s not even all of it

[redchrominance]

[nentindurps]

18+ Arcane Roleplay Discord looking for more rpers to indulge in chaotic Arcane Rp and also just shitposting/talking about it.

We offer:

Thread roleplaying for specific characters

Free-for-all non-canon nonsense

Twitter for some reason (it’s the funniest shit)

We are looking for some MILFS/DILFS like:

Vander

Ambessa Medarda

Cassandra Kiramman

But also like, any other characters.

Mel Medarda

Heimerdinger

Finn

Scar (Manbatdude)

Seriously though we are a fun and friendly group of mostly rusty rpers who all immediately hyperfixated on Arcane. So come and make a character with minimal backstory your own and watch Grayson and Silco talk like old people on “Twitter”.

[gladysfromspinclass]

i'm grayson and let's just say there's some pioneering going on

[trillanelle]

[natalieironside]

Reblog if you're a Millennian and do not ever want to be taught anything unless you told it on the cell phone

[captain-snark]

reblog if this is the first time you’ve heard of this movie

[fennecshandgf]

sometimes i think about the golden record and i want to cry

[fennecshandgf]

there is a disk. it is 12 inches in diameter, it is made of copper, plated with gold. there is an inscription— "To the makers of music – all worlds, all times" on its surface. it lies on the space probe, Voyager 1, launched in 1977, to explore interstellar space beyond our solar system.

it contains human existence.

116 images— the sun, the location of our solar system, mathematical and physical unit definitions, and our planets, including a blue and swirling white sphere simply labelled "Home." it contains images of human dna, of our atoms, their structure, the way they divide, our anatomy, our conception, our birth.

it does not contain an image of war. nor of disease, nor poverty, nor crime, religion, or ideology.

it does contain a father looking lovingly at his daughter. it does contain the picture of a tree toad in a gentle hand, of a woman eating a grape at a supermarket.

the remainder of the disk is audio. a 90-minute selection of music from all over the world, sounds, and greetings. there are greetings in 55 different languages, one akkadian, spoken in sumer about six thousand years ago, and one wu, a modern chinese dialect. the greetings call out to a friend. it wishes them well. it asks them if they have eaten yet.

but it contains other sounds too. it holds the sound of rain, of thunder, of a volcano and an earthquake. it holds the sound of mud pots and trains. it holds the sound of a mother kissing her child.

with little to erode it in space, the golden record would probably outlast all human creation. it will be 40,000 years before it approaches another planetary system. if it does, it cannot find intelligent life. intelligent life will have to find it, retrieve it from where it floats silent and small through space. we still don't know if they would understand it.

in 7.5 billion years, the evolution of the sun would burn the earth up, and we would not exist any longer, but the voyager would fly on, bearing a memory.

bearing a disk with a little inscription etched by hand on its surface.

[st-jimmysidiot]

[narraboths]

think we deserve an SC AU where the first thing Lena sees of Kara is her half-naked, muscled, tatted back as she’s punching a cell wall

[ekingston]

i tried

[narraboths]

“Be careful,” the guard at the gate warns her with a smile that makes Lena’s stomach turn. “Stay away from the bars. This is a wild one.”

It echoes in her head still, half an hour later. 

The hallway leading to the prisoner is dark and eerily quiet, the cells Lena passes by all gaping empty, a row of ghastly blackness. Lena can only hear the sound of her own steps, slow, measured, ringing almost painfully loudly in the silence. It must be hell to be kept like this, she thinks, far apart from everyone, locked away in the dark. The empty case file, the blank sheet of prisoner identification. What could she have done to earn this treatment? 

But then, as she nears the end of the hallway, Lena hears something else too: a muffled, rhythmical thud that grows a little stronger with every step. It feels haunting in this place, somehow, like a ghost rattling its chains.

When she reaches the cell she’s sought, she realizes she wasn’t too far off the mark.

The first Lena sees of Inmate 971 is her half-clothed, tattooed back. It sways a little, left and right, with every punch the prisoner lands against the wall, the muscles under her dirty tank top shifting with every motion, bathed in the strange reddish glow of the cell lamp. It’s not the first time Lena’s seen some senseless display of brute power, but something about this one feels awing: the ease of her strike, perhaps, or the precision of it. The little heaps of dust gathering on the floor under the spots the prisoner has struck.

“I thought we’re done with today’s beating.”

The prisoner doesn’t stop or turn to look, and Lena feels embarrassed at the way she startles before the meaning of those words would even sink in.

“I’m not here to hurt you,” she replies. There’s only a low, disdainful snicker in response. The prisoner shifts her weight, punches low rather than high, and Lena can distinctly hear the wall crack this time.

“That’s a first, officer.”

Lena decides to stop staring and start observing then. She takes it in meticulously: the strange pattern of tattoos, drawing from the spine, up to the shoulders, and across both arms, in an alphabet that seems familiar but escapes recognition. The blotches of purple-blue and yellow-green splattered over them, more than Lena would want to count. The low hunch of her shoulders. The tensing muscles in the prisoner’s back, the way her punches get shorter, quicker, angrier.

“The man you put in the infirmary today.” The next punch halts mid-air. “I’m investigating his gang. He was about to give evidence against his boss before you broke his jaw.”

The prisoner laughs, the sound of it so bitter and hollow that it’s more jarring than her growling words. And then she turns. “So that’s what you want.” 

Lena can feel her heart beat a little faster. She couldn’t tell why. It’s only a pale, rough face staring at her, something that might be handsome if it weren’t for the twice-broken nose, the still-healing split lip or the bruise on her jaw. She’s seen the kind enough. (She’s never seen eyes like that though, so clear and fierce and ridiculously blue.) The prisoner draws nearer, step by step, her lips twisting into a smile as she wraps her fingers around the bars. “Someone to rat on the gutter rats. You Enforcers always know how to pay a charming visit.”

“I need information.” Lena draws herself up with a stern look, arms locked, eyebrow raised. “Are you willing to help me or not?”

“Oh, I could sing for you,” the prisoner shrugs, amused. “Uncover every other den of lawlessness in the Undercity.” Her fingers drum a lazy rhythm on the bars, her forearms noticeably flexing. “Show you the doors that Enforcers don’t even know about, let alone ever have a chance to put their ugly boots through it.”

Lena measures her with a skeptical look.

“You’d do all that.”

The prisoner grins.

“Oh, yes. Since you’ve asked so nicely. There’s only one condition.” Of course there is, Lena almost rolls her eyes, and then does it anyway as the prisoner reaches across the bars, waving conspiratorially at her to lean closer. She almost misses the touch of fury in those blue eyes then. "Help me first.”

[gladysfromspinclass]

*oh*

[katkonstant]

Okay maybe I’ve stared at the picture for far too long and am just imagining things. But the brief flash we see of Cait when Vi thinks she is going to see her head on the platter is different than the iconic bed scene. Cait’s mouth is parted just slightly in the flash scene and her hand is shifted just a little differently.

Anyways I’m going insane over it and still can’t get over VI’s face of vulnerability and astonishment when Cait strokes her face. And the hand grab after. I’m in real deep

Dear, wonderful, beautiful Anon - you and I are radios on the same frequency.

You’re correct! I painstakingly scoured the original Bed Scene and Cait NEVER makes this face! This is without contest or doubt a conjure of Vi’s imaginative Caitlyn. A perfect window into her perspective. This is truly how Vi remembers this interaction:

Caitlyn’s mouth is parted, her eyes are softer and wider. There is a very disarmed, vulnerable look to her in Vi’s mind. She is bleeding for Vi. With her. This is probably the first time anyone has shown Vi empathy. Not pity or sympathy, but made an effort to truly understand her. To literally meet Vi, on her level, face her without flinching, and manifest a physical offering of wholeness with Cait’s body language.

Not only this, but another stark difference from reality and memory: the LIGHTING. In actuality, the sun is just setting and the room is much much brighter. Caitlyn is actually lit amber. But Vi doesn’t remember it this way. In Vi’s vision, it is dark. Gentle, soft, dark. The dark of secrets borne and protected between people who trust one another. She’s from the undercity - the dark is Vi’s comfort zone. She absolutely loved this moment.

You and I, anon. Two radios.

[bloodyshadow1]

people keep saying that Vi was Caitlyn’s gay awakening,  Fools (foldly). Caitlyn’s gay awakening was Grayson.  You’re telling me that a young Caitlyn didn’t march up to Grayson alone after the shooting contest demand to know if her parents paid her off to let her win only for this gorgeous, powerful woman with interests that match her own, who believes in her and compliments her abilities, assures caitlyn that her parents didn’t pay her off, and give her life advice, voiced by Shohreh Aghdashloo didn’t make a young Caitlyn realize she liked women then I don’t know what to say to you.

She went into the enforcers because of what Grayson told her for god sake.  She just didn’t know what to do until she met Vi.

[gladysfromspinclass]

there's no excuse for a league of legends show to be as good as arcane is

[roger-taylor-owns-my-wigg]

every person can feel freddie’s presence in their souls when they sing MAMAAAAAA UUHHHH, I DONT WANNA DIE, I SOMETIMES I WISH I’VE NEVER BEEN BORN AT ALL with all the air in their lungs i’m not joking

[peachdisco]

it’s fucking crazy to think about the amount of people who have sung bohemian rhapsody? like it’s such a unifying song, by nature of the fact that so many people know it. it holds so many good memories for me and other people. it’s a song you scream in the car with your friends while you drive around your boring hometown, it’s a song you drunkenly sing with your arm around your best friend, or a song you sing along to with strangers when it’s on in public. it’s bittersweet to think about freddie’s legacy carrying on like that through his masterpiece. freddie carries on because he’s a part of so many people’s good memories and bohemian rhapsody is a huge part of that.

[deathbutwithfuzzyanimals]

Reblog if you have sung bohemian rhapsody with your friends

[reikah-deactivated20190906]

every time i see this post i’m reminded of the video of 65,000 people singing bohemian rhapsody in near-perfect harmony

like, what other song can make that claim?

[crewdlydrawn-deactivated2022072]

Some of the highlights of that video include:

The crowd cheering after the first stanza when they realize what they’re all doing

So many people audibly ‘doing the guitar parts’… like ya do

The sheer number of voices joining the rediculous falsetto (thanks, Roger)

How they all start jumping at the ramp-up “so you think you can stomp me”

Hands up, hundreds, thousands deep for the final “ooooo”s and the last line to close the song

[aces-to-apples]

Only days before my state went into lockdown, “Bohemian Rhapsody” came on in the restaurant kitchen I’d just been hired at and, no shit, every single worker in that little diner started singing along. Me (the only queer afaik), the manager, all the other kitchen workers, the dishwasher up front, the two people on the counter, all but two of the men over 30. Just belting out Freddie Mercury at the top of their lungs. And you can bet when “sometimes I wish I’d never been born at all” came around, we every single one of us ramped up the intensity and basically made sure Freddie could hear us in the afterlife.

[zohbugg]

[solitarelee]

[iamthespineofmybook]

One of the things that struck me, listening to the video, is that you cannot distinguish the original vocals from the crowd, and sometimes you can barely hear the music. And the POV is on the stage the speakers are playing the song from!

There’s good reason why, nearly fifty years after the height of their career, Queen is still considered one of the best bands of all time ever.

(And how albums left lying about in cars will eventually metamorphose into Best of Queen albums.)

[prismatic-bell]

Something else that’s rather incredible about this is, Bohemian Rhapsody is a very difficult song from a technical standpoint. Like–humor me, okay, go flip it on and try to sing the whole thing at the top of your voice without falling off-key, out of breath, or cracking at least once. Then come back.

Okay. You’re back? Welcome back. Unless you’re a trained singer, you probably can’t do it. There are too many long notes, too many key changes, and too many places where–if you’re singing all the parts–you’re just up and down the scale too damned fast. I’m saying this as a trained singer and I can’t do it. I always crack on “magnifico” and “leave me to die,” and I have a pretty decent range, but I know I sound ugly as hell on that final coda.

Okay. Now that we’ve established that, I want to talk a little about singing as a chorus. One of the things a lot of people learned during the pandemic is how hard it is to take twenty people, all in different places, and stitch them together to make a single coherent song with perfect pitch and timing. You’re all practicing on slightly your own tempo, slightly your own key, even if you’re all working from the same base track. (You can see this in a lot of the Wellerman compilations from Tiktok, where someone always says “Soon” a moment before everyone else on “soon may the Wellerman come.”) When you have a chorus comprised of many smaller choruses that are all traveling to be together, this is what dress rehearsal is for–to get all of you onto the same tempo so you’re starting and finishing at exactly the same time. This is a thing that normally only happens after at least several days of practice, and it is an important skill that must be taught. You’re not just born knowing how to do this.

I do not know how many people at that Green Day concert were trained singers. But I do know there is no way in hell all few thousand of them were a single group–they showed up a few at a time, maybe even flying solo for the night. Now go and listen to the video again. Listen to the ends of verses and the pickups. They’re fucking crisp as hell. Everyone is starting and ending at the same place. Not even a single note off. (And yes, you can hear when it’s a single note off, even in a crowd that big. A handful of people would be enough to throw it off.) And while a few in the crowd may be off-key, so many more are on-key that the cumulative effect is of the song being on-key. This isn’t even the band they’re there to see.

They don’t just know this song, this technically-difficult song, this long and complex song by a completely different band. They know it perfectly. They know it down to the fucking note. They know it so well that they did it in perfect synchrony, without a single chance to practice.

Do you know how insane that is?

[nyxserpent]

I would not call myself a trained singer (four years of high school chorus class is the extent of “proper training”) but I’ve been singing as long as I can remember. My mom taught me how to listen for the harmonies behind the melody of songs. I have a talent for note jumps other people have trouble with (I have no idea how/why I can do this. I do not question I just sing). There is at least one spot in Bohemian Rhapsody where I’m singing the backup instead of the melody, and I figured it out myself. I have yet to throw anyone off when I sing it with others because they expect to hear that in the background and don’t register where it’s coming from

[the-nettle-knight]

I was in that crowd, it was fucking amazing

(I’m not a trained singer, I can barely carry a note)

[crazy-pages]

I still remember when I first heard it

[lesbianralzarek]

as funny as top/bottom/switch jokes can be, i wanna drill into queer kids heads that those terms are 1) not myers-briggs personality types 2) likely not something you know about yourself if you’re a virgin 3) inherently sexual and therefore 4) not something adults should assign you, even as a joke

[pink-wisp]

:o oh ace here and… i always thought this was like a shy(bottom) to courageous(top) scale

[lesbianralzarek]

i am so sorry that everyone lied to you. bottom = someone who prefers to be penetrated when having penetrative sex, top = someone who prefers to penetrate others when having penetrative sex, versatile/vers (not switch, oops. that’s a bdsm term) = no strong preference for either (or a preference for changing roles every once in a while)

these have nothing to do with being dominant or submissive, and no bearing on your behavior outside of sex (unless, i guess, you wanna make it a personality trait? for some reason?). someone can be a submissive top if that’s what suits them best. not pointing fingers at anyone in particular, but somewhere along the line people got it in their heads that these terms are gender roles 2.0 and i want an apology

[marquisnaberius]

Also - If you’re a young or newly-out queer person, there’s no shame in not already knowing this:

Being immersed in Straight Culture 24/7 means that you aren’t going to find this out until you actively go looking.

Queer people being flippant about their identities can look like actual self-identification if you don’t already know these terms.

Straight people misunderstand queer identities and misuse queer lingo as a matter of course, so you’re actively being misinformed too!