despotette tyrant queen mode @just--icy - Tumblr Blog

recently I've been thinking about how I think some (I repeat some, not all, not even most) of the reason behind why it's harder for female characters to get popular enough to achieve real blorbo/The Character status is a kind of overcompensating reaction to a certain type of male gazey voyeurism in mainstream media. in my horror/tragedy niche I'm seeing six posts a day on my dash along the lines of "mmm I need that brunette bisexual man writhing around crying out in pain," and, yknow, love that, strong agree, but I absolutely never see that kind of blorbo sadism posting where the vague character figure is a woman. the most discussion I ever see of female characters suffering beautifully/sexily is people making fun of booktok m/f dark romance; wanting to see a woman as that kind of "chew toy experiencing the horrors and accidentally being kinda hot about it" protagonist is treated as completely off limits. at best it's laughable and at worst it's a sign of rising fascism.

and I think that sucks! I think there's a huge gap in the market in queer fandom spaces both for women who identify with that Eternal Suffering Era archetype and for people who are attracted to women in that "The Character covered in blood" way. I'm particularly talking to sapphics in the audience right now: I am very much not telling you to eat your vegetables, I'm telling you that you can eat desert without going directly to hell. that brunette bisexual woman can also be covered in blood while having the worst day of her life for five years straight and you won't go to feminism jail for thinking about it.

riverkingmarley

Wait maybe I’m just stupid because other people have said this before but it’s just occurring to me now how so much of worm really is about masks.

Alec is perfectly symbolized by the happy/bored mask.

Brian’s mask is almost cartoonishly intimidating to hide himself underneath.

Lisa’s character surrounds the roles she plays and the lack of a solid identity underneath. Sarah, even if having once been her identity, is now just another discarded mask.

Rachel’s mask is cheap and almost there just to check a box as an expression for her lack of control over anything. There isn’t any real thought behind her mask because she didn’t get the chance to think any of this through, being a villain was forced on her. And maybe I’m just making this up but I feel like she wears it less through the book as she gets more agency and footing as she heals.

Taylor’s mask was designed to reflect her aspirations for heroism but instead comes off as intimidating and reflects her apathy for her enemies. Perhaps being modelled off Alexandria but appearing villainous speaks to the rot at the core of this society and the unfairness that creates these villains. It doesn’t matter how much you look or act like Alexandria because they’ve already decided who the good and bad actors here are.

#parahumans #wormblr #worm spoilers #sorry I couldn’t think of anything for Aisha :(#also maybe you could say something about how weaver is an attempt to whitewash the structures here but ultimately it comes off hollow #with skitter hiding underneath #<- prev's tags that are too good not to share

cpericardium

psychotrenny

Remember: "Confessions obtained under torture aren't valid" doesn't include confessions of love ^^

#🐦‍⬛

shortandsadandstupid

old pigswill stockpile art I never put out (because i genuinely could not draw Aster). yum yum

Why is Theo so underrated? This was one of the hardest lines in the series

Srs it look like 2 hours to get Aster to that

germesthegenie

I thought the same before and unfortunately came to realize that if Theo became the Jaune Arc of Worm instead of Greg he’d have almost all the same problems but a million times worse because rather than his actually interesting and cool stuff fic writers would use him for “let’s redeem the Empire 88!” plotlines. None of them would know who the Chicago Wards are and make Rune his love interest and all that 😔. Gregfic is unfortunately the necessary lesser evil to what Theofic would have been