Toph's Fanboy

Per the title, I consider myself to be the #1 fan of the character Toph Beifong from Avatar: The Last Airbender. As such, this is a forum primarily for the discussion of her character and of the series, while not excluding discussion of other works that I find to be of particular value or interest. Universal Follow-Back (Except NFSW Blogs)

[typenull]

Anorith tribute

[ottermatopoeia]

Most sexual motherfucker in Hoenn

[metalarmor]

So it’s essentially a eurypterid or sea scorpion from the Paleozoic, huh. 

[mabbbish]

how toph picks clothes

.

i have a fun headcanon that the gaang describes colours of clothes to toph (not that she cares much to begin with lol, only if she asks) as expiriences!

[catchymemes]

[yunolik87]

The only day we can reblog this

[jaundicerat]

hey, horror genre, quit using Ed Gein, a deeply ill murderer who happened to probably be transgender, as a basis for your transphobic bullshit

examples of this exact thing are Norman Bates from Psycho and Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs

Ed Gein was a serial killer and grave robber in Plainfield, Wisconsin who became active after the death of their mother in 1945. Gein made “clothing” out of the bodies of their 2 murder victims and the 9 corpses they dug up. All of the bodies were women that looked like their mother because, in Gein’s untreated illness-ridden mind, it made them a woman to wear their skin, as well as connect them to their late mother, Augusta. After Ed was caught after the murder of their second victim, they were declared legally insane and put in a psychiatric ward at a state hospital. Gein, who grew up in an abusive household and lived with their mother until she died when Ed was middle-aged, said the best part of their life was being hospitalized. The horror genre uses Gein as a basis for their portrayal of the “transgender deviant” stereotype, also often seen in older police shows such as Law and Order.

I come to the conclusion that Ed was most likely a transgender individual, but through an obsession with their mother, probably bred to cope with the constant abuse, the extreme distress of losing their mother to a series of strokes, the untreated schizophrenia (note: it is very uncommon to find a violent schizophrenic. most murders are committed by people with behaviors of sociopathy, not those who display psychosis), and the social climate of Ed’s lifetime, they became the Butcher of Plainfield, Wisconsin.

[metalarmor]

I've heard that Gein identifying as a woman was supposedly something that the media attributed to Gein before they were even interviewed; when they were asked, their explanation was along the lines of creating a substitute for their mother that could be kept indefinitely, and not to make themselves a woman.  That’s what K.E. Sullivan argued in their 2000 article  “Ed Gein and the Figure of the Transgendered Serial Killer”, anyways. I just thought you might like to know that it’s at least possible that Gein was simply forced into a pre-existing “trans-  gender serial killer” stereotype to push a manufactured transphobic narrative. (Your points about there being no correlation between Gein’s crimes and their gender identity are still valid if Gein actually did identify as a woman, though.) 

[autie-j]

I hate when something you really love has a totally dead fandom. For instance, I absolutely love .Hack//Sign more than any other anime. It’s such an amazing series but the fandom is practically dead. There’s hardly any fanfic for it and hardly anyone ever talks about it.

[metalarmor]

My feelings exactly. SIGN probably influenced my view of the world more than any other single work of fiction, and yet its fandom is basically non-existent. Its meditations on the fuzzy boundary lines and interaction between cyber and physical space are more relevant now than ever, and no one seems to notice. It really seems to have been before its time in its futurist outlook, addressing the fears of Y2K in the air when it was in the works and molding into something new.

If only there was a way to reboot a fanbase when it was in this current state...

[catchymemes]

[mr-downer]

This deserves more notes

[burningoleander]

Nobody tell him about “Death of the Author”

[metalarmor]

“Death of the Author” really wouldn’t apply here, though. "Death of the Author” simply means that the author’s views are not determinative of the meaning of the text in any final sense, as it is open to re-contextualization by its readers. 

But if an English teacher claims that something they’re saying was what the author intended in order to buttress their own views when students might not accept them (due to how much has to be read into the text rather than taken from it), then what the author intended does matter for the truth of that claim. 

[timdrakeothy-deactivated2022031]

hot take: ‘chivalry’ is fine as long as it’s adapted to 21st century values. if you are a male, you SHOULD be aware that your female friends face certain issues that you as a male dont. acting on that awareness in a way that keeps your female friends safe, isn’t a bad thing.

like… opening doors isn’t rly chivalrous when it’s just a thing you ought to do for everyone. but real 21st century chivalry might be, like, standing between your female friend and the guy that’s trying to get her drunk, or offering to walk her home when it’s late.

if the ‘chivalry’ inconveniences everyone involved and you’re just doing it for your over-inflated male ego — ie, “no you’re the girl here, you HAVE to let me hold this door for you and do all these things for you even when you can do it yourself and im just slowing you down” — then it’s just outdated misogyny.

[wanderingquill]

Chivalry was literally designed to make nobles aware of their power and influence so they don’t unintentionally harm people when trying to do their job of leading and protecting people. Modern chivalry should carry on that sentiment of men and white people becoming aware of their own power of privilege and influence to help and protect the lives of their peers.

*Not to inflate their egos, but because it’s the good thing to do and makes the world a better place to be.

[elfwreck]

Chivalry, at its core, involves being helpful to people who don’t have your advantages. 

It involved generosity and protecting those weaker than oneself: including opening doors when doors were made of badly fit heavy wood and often got stuck,and women, especially undernourished exhausted-from-childcare women, had a harder time opening them. It involved not lying, and following through on your promises. (A guy who is consistently late with the accounting reports, which delays the whole team, is not dedicated to chivalry, no matter how polite he is on a date.) 

Chivalry is a code of ethics that involves dedicating one’s strength and skills in service to others; it’s not based on gender roles. 

[galactic-polywag]

Chivalry is a code of ethics that involves dedicating one’s strength and skills in service to others; it’s not based on gender roles.

[prominence12]

“Is that a rare item? Can I have it?!”

Playing through the OG .hack games with my husband and I love the character designs in these games. So many big, early 2000s fantasy design tropes and they are so fun.  I want an HD remake so I can see my favorite Wavemaster in the high res glory she deserves! 

[canonlgbtcharacteroftheday]

The canon LGBT+ character of today is:

Tsukasa/An Shoji from The .hack Series who is a lesbian

[metalarmor]

Or gender-fluid, depending on how you interpret the final scenes of “Return” and so the relationship between online Tsukasa and offline An Shoji. There’s at least a decent argument to be made along those line. Either way, an LGBT character.

[fic-rec-a-day-blog]

Was thinking about good music to walk and write too, since that’s about all I do these days for hobbies, ha.

Someone once suggested that video game music is good for writing, because it’s meant to energize you to go forward. So music from a video game-themed anime works too.

I’m trying to think of exactly what mood this is, and all I can think of is the main character’s arc–wandering alone at first, but slowly joined by companions. I’m really fond of the vocal tracks, which are all in English. (Although the opening of “The World” always feels like a personal call out – “do you call it solitude, do you call it liberty, when all the world fades away to leave you lonely?” Yes. Please remind me that I’m walking alone against tonight, hah.)

Melancholia is the mood, I suppose, but it warms up. I find “To Nowhere” (which is actually on the second OST) to be very–romantic? Companionable? It’s not as sweet as Tabi no Tochuu, which is my ultimate companionship song (and the live version is exquisite), but the melancholy makes the togetherness seem sweeter.

[metalarmor]

Nice to find someone else online who likes Dot Hack SIGN’s music as much as I do. Though unfortunately I’m not as good describing music and don’t comment on them as much as I’d like to do. Might I ask if you are also a fan of the show?

[ladyfauntleroy]

I agree with feminist criticism of power structures in society, but I don’t believe in radicalism and it seems that is critical to mainstream feminism.

If I observe that inequality exists that still does not validate the feminist ideology. If I think feminism has a reason for existing, does that mean I am a feminist or not? What is the appeal of that term and why should I use it? When will feminism outlive its purpose… will it ever?

[metalarmor]

What you may want to ask yourself in cases like this, then, is why you don’t agree. Is the ideology inherently associated with the strategies used to promote it,or is their connection merely circumstantial? Does the social criticism require the ideology to make sense, or can it be translated into other terms without loosing its power (is outrage an effect of the ideology, or its cause)? Is it because ideological focus on one value depreciates other things valuable to you? If so, can the ideology be modified to become more pluralistic, or must pluralism be modified so that it is more principled in its rejection of unjustifiable power?

Personally, I would never suggest placing yourself in any category except with qualification, because group identity is never monolithic, and never exists in a context-less space; if you don’t qualify it for yourself, then other people will qualify it for you, and much legitimate discussion and self-discovery is denied.  For instance, I would consider myself a feminist, because I believe that inequity must be addressed as one of the basic aims of a well-constituted society, but I would also consider myself a Whig, because I believe that socio-legal precedent has independent weight of its own, and good judgement is require to balance them so that nothing important is lost to the world in the process of revolution. Which is more important to me? I don’t really see why I should be forced to decide in any categorical sense; for me, that’ll boil down to whichever I think is more important in each particular case. And I don’t think that you should be forced to choose between feminism and other things that you value, either. 

That being said, I don’t think that feminism will ever outlive its purpose, any more than constitutional democracy; radical demagoguery and the collective pressure of the mob are fleeting, but public opinion informed by the structured deliberation of equal parties is still the safest bet against conspiracies by the powerful few.  Society may never perfectly achieve that ideal, but the point is to make progress, and resist any breaking of precedent moving in opposite direction tooth and nail.

Seeing your post reminded me of some of my own past travails, so I felt the urge to offer you any benefit those experiences might provide.  If you weren’t really looking for advice, I apologize for entering your mental space and rambling on at such length. But I hope at least some of that advice may be of some help to you.

[indigotic-fox]

[metalarmor]

Memorable scenes between the Wavemaster Tsukasa and Lady Subaru from .hack//SIGN, my favorite romance in any work of fiction I have ever consumed. If only I had the words to describe why I find their relationship so compelling …

[metalarmor]

.Hack//SIGN: AMV (Tsukasa x Subaru)

A great AMV of Dot Hack SIGN, created around eight years ago. Fairly creepy in its general tone, but still a great representation of the Tsukasa-Subaru romance.

Out of any single work of fiction, Dot Hack SIGN has probably had the most impact on my philosophy of life and general perspective on the world, and my ideal for romance in particular. So when I came across this on YouTube, I felt I had to re-post it; I would love it if this show conveyed meaning to someone else.

[wwwf-inbrainz-sause-blog]

“…i was the one waiting!” D;

[andwhenthefantasydied]

In all seriousness, that’s as sexual as their relationship gets. 

Which makes sense, considering that they’re in a videogame, and only their minds are in that videogame.

Hell, Tuskasa’s body is actually unplugged from the computer and in a comma.

We don’t even know this is sapphic for the first half of the show.

And that was perfect, because it’s all about their minds and not about their bodies. AND WHY THE HELL WAS SHUGO TURNED ON BY RENA OMG I REALLY HATE LEGEND OF TWILIGHT.

[metalarmor]

“That was perfect, because it’s all about their minds and not about their bodies.”  I think Subaru herself summarizes the nature of their relationship very nicely, when asked whether she’d still want to see Tsukasa in real life if he turned out to be a girl: “Yes. Because...Because I’ve been touched by your trembling soul.” She is a pure romantic at heart, as is SIGN itself despite its surface pessimism, which I think sets a lovely romantic ideal sadly absent from most current anime.

This scene really is about as sexual as any scene between the two, and given that it happens on the cusp of Subaru having been mentally degraded and traumatized by an online stalker in some way, it’s really more about emotional intimacy and openness as Subaru being comforted by Tsukasa than prurience. Her appearance may seem fan-servicey out of context (about as much as the show ever gets), but anyone who sees it as indulgent (or funny) in context was either not paying close attention or else unreasonably puritanical or prurient.

“We don’t even know this is sapphic for the first half of the show.“ 

I do have a small quibble with this relationship being labelled sapphic, though. Personally, I think that Tsukasa/An Shouji is best interpreted as gender-fluid; .hack//SIGN heavily implies that one’s personal identity is largely (if not entirely) constructed by one’s interaction with others and with one’s own body. And it certainly also argues that An Shouji’s time as Tsukasa is just as much a part of their identity as their life off-line (implying that this is also true for the rest of us). So Tsukasa/An Shouji’s gender isn’t something that can really be pinned down; they’re both a guy and a girl, without either identity being entirely predominant. I’m not sure whether this affects whether Subaru’s romantic interest in Tsukasa or vice versa is considered sapphic or not, but I thought it worth mentioning.  

[sleepeafowl]

[andwhenthefantasydied]

You know…

These show’s characters are… weirdly de-sexualized.

And I say weird because… I mean, look at what she’s wearing. That outfit. That armor, honest to god, was de-sexualized in an anime.

What I’m trying to say is that the characters were never really played as sexy. There was no fan-service on the show. Which is strange because LOOK AT WHAT MIMIRU IS WEARING. She’s the poster child for the complaint that female armors in videogames are stupid. I’m sure that protects her well…

I mean, she wasn’t the only one that showed skin… Helba too… and Subaru. And Blackrose, obviously. 

I’m not against fanservice or anything. I can enjoy it in some animes, but I think that’s something I like about .hack//sign. For one, I think de-sexualizing those characters must be hard to accomplish. And they accomplish it. They had those characters, and somehow, no fan-service.

I guess you could argue that the outfit on its own is fanservice… but the thing is that the way it’s framed, it’s never directly sexualized. I mean, Subaru had some fanservice-y moments, but it really was never played for fun. Or fun-ny. Besides, it would be illogical for them to not have that armor, because it’s a videogame, and a videogame without dumb armors for girls that don’t actually cover anything would be unrealistic. That armor is not just an artistic choice, it’s logical.

But the reason I really liked that is because I thought that it made sense that the characters were not really directly turned on by each other because their minds were inside a virtual world and therefore their bodies with their sexual desire would be out of the equation… seemed logic to me. I thought the absence of fan-service was not only an artistic choice, but a logic requirement of the reality. I think the only sexual thing in there was Sora licking someone because he’s Sora and he’s a troll. The only real couple in //sing are subaru and tsukasa, and they’re all about angst or cute, never really sexual.

Again, I’m not against sexual content in anime, but I liked that there wasn’t any because it was logical.

Or so I thought until I watched .hack//Legend of Twilight which wasn’t happy with just fanservice, no, it needed chibi fanservice and it wasn’t even funny it was creepy and it ruined my logical arguments in favor of .hack//sign because hey, his sister is turning him on while in the videogame and GOD I REALLY HATE LEGEND OF TWILIGHT.

[metalarmor]

I know this is a reply happening years later for you, but I so rarely see this opinion raised about .hack//SIGN, that I felt compelled to do so anyways.   

The lack of fan-service and avoidance of over-sexualization of female characters in .hack//SIGN is one of its good points that’s rarely spoken of. Both because it’s a sign that the anime is trying to go beyond mere indulgence of teenage male fantasies (of all kinds), unlike most of its peers, but also due to the sheer difficulty of conveying that they are not being played as sexy to the audience despite what many of the characters are wearing (as you duly pointed out).

“ I guess you could argue that the outfit on its own is fanservice… but the thing is that the way it’s framed, it’s never directly sexualized.” I think part of the way that they accomplished this, is by deliberately not taking advantage of the fact that these are the character’s in-game avatars to see how much they could get away with the excuse that these aren’t really them. Instead, they generally go out of their way to make the character designs slightly less revealing than they might be in a comparable fantasy game, by (at the risk of sounding prurient) giving Mimiru a “modesty flap” and Subaru a “modesty gem” rather than showing cleavage. (Helba isn’t that way, but she’s also not shown particularly often.) But I think that these deliberate choices to not cater the male sexual interest despite the context, in combination with the fact that the few glimpses of real life and the OP regularly remind us how separate it is from The World, presses us to be constantly aware that they are interacting through the medium of a video-game. And are not in the context of that situation actively choosing to be sexual by doing anything above and beyond what is simply expected for such a game. (Except for Sora, but he’s just a nine year old troll who doesn’t really know the ramifications of his actions, and is perceived as an annoyance for doing so.)

Part of it may also be the fact that there are about as many male characters wearing less-than-protective clothing as there are female characters. For your Subaru and your Mimiru, you also have your Krim and your Bear, though you also have your BTs and your Silver Knights. It’s not exactly equivalent (mostly because of Tsukasa, and the questions concerning which side they belong on), but it’s closer to an even ratio of revealing guys to revealing girls than in most shows, and that makes it feel less indulgent and instead simply realistic.  

“Or so I thought until I watched .hack//Legend of Twilight which wasn’t happy with just fanservice, no, it needed chibi fanservice and it wasn’t even funny it was creepy and it ruined my logical arguments in favor of .hack//sign because hey, his sister is turning him on while in the video-game and GOD I REALLY HATE LEGEND OF TWILIGHT.”

Personally, I’ve just decided to act as if everything that was made after Liminality and the four original Dot Hack video-games is part of a separate canon. Those five works were obviously planned alongside .hack//SIGN to some degree, as part of their initial development of their ambitious multi-media franchise, and generally seem to have retained the same artistic inspiration throughout. But, for reasons I can’t really decipher, they veered away after the initial video games, and seem to have dropped the introspective character study for pandering to various demographics. I’m guessing that there might have been some change in creative talent along the way, or the original talent being stretched beyond how they wanted things to conclude, or something of that kind, though I have no proof. But in any case, just pretend like Legend of the Twilight doesn’t exist; it certainly has no bearing on the achievements of SIGN, negative or otherwise.

[only-clown-clown]

[jockoppressor]

I don’t usually get into fandom stuff, but I’m so excited about the possible .hack// revival. .hack//SIGN was the first time I saw LGBT people, disabled people, and abuse survivors in an anime. .hack//IMOQ gave me my first super-relatable fictional character (lonely, depressed, moody, friendless little Elk). Then .hack//G.U. made him gay & gave me more mentally ill characters to relate to. And then it like… vanished for 10 years. But now they’re remastering G.U. and the series might even be revived with entirely new content and honestly this is better than literally anything to come out of E3 2017 so far.

[metalarmor]

dot hack

dot hack sign

hack sign

.hack

.hack//sign