OK

guys dont worry, i got this!! they did nothing wrong!!! (maybe except cate but im a good lawyer, dw)

before you stab someone: THINK!

how can you make it Tender?

how can you make it Homoerotic?

how can you make it Implicitly intimate?

how can you make it Noticeably a metaphor for sex?

how can you make it Kind of gay?

babe i hear the ice cream truck

My cutie patootie

like, i love stories where good people are flawed and at odds with each other, and can be unfair to each other or themselves. i don't need all the characters to be friends or never have conflict.

but it is very different from the fandom concept of 'portraying flaws' where an already routinely demonized character of color is constantly getting chewed out by other characters who are basically props, who are only there to voice the fandoms anger, and all for the sake of the fandom's chosen white woobie's catharsis.

and of course, when you want to focus more on the underappreciated characters and point out fandoms racism and misogyny, it's "why don't you create for your blorbos yourself instead of complaining!" but when it's a 100th post in the character tag demanding more 'flawed' portrayals for the character (while all popular artists and writers in fandom are already hyper-critical of the character at best or bash them at worst) it's considered fine.

(and when you see what fics are getting recommended under those posts... it becomes even more clear that it's not about nuanced portrayals)

a commission for @waezi2

the concept described follows the same scenario in which powder passes away during the heist

It should be a way bigger deal some other party figured out how to construct their own version of shimmer, and by some other party, I mean Noxus.

The only person who had access to new shimmer was Lest, and Lest's people belong to a branch of the vastaya that live within Noxus' territory.

The most worrying aspect of this version of shimmer is that it's been modified to create tattoos on its users.

We've already seen Viktor's own experiments with runes and shimmer in the first season.

And now we know from the Ambessa book that not only are rune tattoos a real thing that mages use to modify their magic in Mel and Rudo's case, but the Black Rose is also actively trying to create their own rune warriors out of mages AND non-mages. In fact Jinx’s shimmer altered body shares a lot of similar abilities as the rune warriors in the book, right down to the super speed, enhanced strength, and improved endurance, with side effects more reminiscent of the chemtank soldiers.

This kind of development is such neat twist to the finale, because it all comes back to what Ambessa said, "weapons cannot be unmade and they are always used". Piltover may have forcefully dearmed Zaun from its shimmer and even put it's own hextech on the back burner, but that isn't the end. The arms race is still going on, Piltover's just put itself and Zaun out of commission.

I think fandom will be immensely improved once people manage to internalize that 1) racism and misogyny in fics and in fandom culture are not necessary evils to sustain a thriving fandom ecosystem and 2) if your thriving fandom megalopolis has racism and misogyny as load bearing walls then it deserves to be destroyed.

Mel Medarda 🌟 (my first fanart)

@kizu_dakreep on tiktok

I think it's kinda interesting how Mel doesn't really fit into the disposable black girlfriend trope and yet a lot of fandom still treats her like she does.

The poor writing with Mel puts her in the independent black woman stereotype (even though she was very much not independent) more than the disposable black girlfriend trope. It doesn't take Jayce loving Mel to have some sort of epiphany about Viktor. It takes him literally having to eat raw lizards with a shattered leg in the depths of a cave, and the epiphany he has isn't even a positive one. He doesn't have to be "freed" from Mel or dispose of her to be with Viktor—they were torn apart by circumstance and he had a moral obligation to be with Viktor.

Basically what I'm saying is that if you need to discredit and disrespect a character in order to make your ship work you need to do some self reflecting.

But I've participated in ship wars and I'd rather just talk about the whole "independent black woman thing" because it has to do with her as an individual, rather than as a part of a pair or an obstacle.

"Mel is a queen" she's not. She's stunning and an amazing character but she very much is not. Mel is so dependent on other people. She needed the council to work in her favour in order to achieve her personal goals. She needed Jayce and Elora to be vulnerable with. It makes Ambessa's treatment towards her all the more hurtful; she needed her mother, and her mother's approval, and was punished for it. I don't think we actually take the time to comprehend how devastating it would be to be, what, 19-20 years old and be exiled because you were too soft for your mother, only to be told years later that it was actually because your she loved you and she didn't want to (if my mother told me she kicked me out because I weakened her I'd probably instantaneously die of a broken heart). Obviously it was more complex than that, but Mel is the child in this situation; she is not going to see it through Ambessa's eyes nor would she want to.

Mel likely got really good at feigning independence but I doubt that, with the way she grew up and the service she would've been able to afford in Piltover, she even knew how to cook. I'm sure she depended on other people not only for the major aspects of her life but also just to keep her basic needs in order. And she's not strong either; because she was raised in Noxus she can likely fight with knives and swords, but it's not like she was this phenomenal mage when she got her powers.

I hope the Noxus show doesn't pretend that she's some strong and independent person, because that's not what Mel has ever been. She's smart and savvy and shrewd but not independent. I love her so much but I'd rather see a real portrayal of her—probably struggling not only with her magic but with trying to stand up on her own—than the fake solo act it's easy to pretend that she is.