Queertoon Queertoons!

ah yes GW2, the two genders

Holy smokes.

Gems have a type. A human type.

Hi! So Rebecca Sugar just came out with a new and really important interview on writing for LGBTQ kids using queer characters (my sister did it ^_^) It’s beautiful and heartfelt but no one knows its out yet haha, would it be okay if you posted about it? - @lightspeeddistraction

this new interest that showrunners have in engaging fans and “supporting” and endorsing fanworks is actually really insidious

because it diverts fan attention towards canon and canonical authority 

it keeps fans watching and hoping and advocating for their ships to be canon

instead of generating creative and expansive fanworks.

think about the decline in fanworks for “crack ships” and rarepairs

think about how many people won’t produce content for ships that have no chance of becoming “canon”

because we - especially queer and/or woc fans - are being baited and led on by showrunners, so that we’re focusing our fanworks and fan efforts on canon rather than on subverting and expanding canon to include new and exciting possibilities.

meanwhile showrunners will queerbait and shipbait like no tomorrow, show up at comic con, laugh about shipping and fandom in a supposed show of support, but go home with their bank accounts growing and canon hegemony - read white, straight hegemony - intact.

it also makes for less exciting and rewarding fandom

because we’re focused on canon - which will ultimately never reward or satisfy any of our efforts - instead of on our creative potential.

this new shift in showrunners interacting with fan culture isn’t about valuing or rewarding fan efforts.

In popular culture, when boy meets girl they get together. Circumstance and personality do not matter, the relationship will happen. We can talk about where this expectation came from all we want, but it has become so thoroughly ingrained in modern pop-culture that it is almost impossible to escape. Almost.

The early 2000s TV series Teen Titans was notable for many things, from its eastern-inspired animation to its wildly varying tone, but one thing that remained consistent was the characters. Consistently in character and consistently well written, the five core members of the Titans were the cornerstone for the show, and their relationships are what keep the fandom alive to this day. The relationship between Beast Boy and Raven in particular is notable because it completely subverts the romantic expectations of pop culture and delivers a platonic male-female relationship.

“…last year this photograph of children looking at their smartphones by Rembrandt’s ‘The Night Watch’ in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam [went viral.] It was often accompanied by outraged, dispirited comments such as “a perfect metaphor for our age,” “the end of civilization” or “a sad picture of our society”.

…It turns out that the Rijksmuseum has an app that, among other things, contains guided tours and further information about the works on display. As part of their visit to the museum, the children, who minutes earlier had admired the art and listened attentively to explanations by expert adults, had been instructed to complete an assignment by their school teachers, using, among other things, the museum’s excellent smartphone app….

The tragic thing is that this — the truth — will never go viral. So, I wonder, what is more likely to bring about the death of civilization, children using smartphones to learn about art or the willful ignorance of adults who are too quick to make assumptions?” José Picardo, Medium

Within The 100 universe, Lexa’s legacy of peace and compassion may have been shattered last episode, but she is leaving her mark on the real world in the most beautiful way. Not only have the queer activists behind LGBT Fans Deserve Better already raised almost $125,000 for The Trevor Project—an organization that helps at risk LGBT youth—in just over a month since the infamous “Thirteen” aired, these same activists are behind what is being called the #LexaPledge. I can’t wait to tell you all about this, because it’s amazing and beautiful and…no I’m not crying what are you talking about?

What is the #LexaPledge?

A collaboration between the creators of the LBGT Fans Deserve Better Website and the creators of “Saving Hope,” the “Lexa Pledge” is a pledge to the LGBTQ fandom, and a much needed one at that. It is both a call to change the way that writers and producers treat LGBT characters and a sign that they have heard us and want to do better in the future. Although you can read it in full on their website, the seven core tenants are worth repeating in full because this is such a game-changing commitment: