who decides who gets a second chance?

my mom, discussing furries with me: but I don’t get all the cats and dogs, why wouldn’t you want to be a sexy animal? like a kangaroo

me: mama what the hell does that mean

my mom: so muscular

@noonesgaylikegatson your post has not left my mind since you made it. I see it everywhere.

What’s crazy is that I wrote this before this whole situation and they just proved the point.

Sin of empathy. They’re this close to starting ritual sacrifices.

They are literally sith lords, like this is a thing sith believe, that empathy and caring about others makes you weak, that true power comes from hate and killing or enslaving everyone

Everyone from yellowjackets

this was basically how that scene went to me

today on the train home the guy next to me was on his phone and at one point i saw him go on tumblr and he just had like. a normie dash. like it was all photography. of nature and architecture. he was using tumblr the way a heterosexual landscaper for rich people might use instagram. i actually had to watch his screen for a few seconds to be sure it really was tumblr because i was so taken aback by the content he was viewing. this is why algorithmless websites are so beautiful btw because i genuinely didn't know that this side of tumblr even existed. he didn't even so much as scroll past any text posts.

Completed hood, based off a 16th century ‘shame’ mask.

I will be opening up for a couple pre-orders tomorrow for this design (as well as a few slots of the usual muzzles, stirrup collars, and cowbell collars) so keep an eye out!

Even if it’s slowly 🐌

by me

saw someone say that in yellowjackets wlw means women losing women 😭

the greatest unrequited love of yellowjackets is not jackieshauna but actually other tai and van. other tai would do anything for van, but van will always be disgusted and frightened of her. will always prefer tai, even when tai abandoned her for 25 years, even though it was other tai who asked for van, who was still thinking of her, all those years later

other tai is literally ride or die (and by die we mean others die) for van.

via @swatercolor [insta]

This is the best tag I've ever received on a post, I think

queens of hearts

the most gut-wrenching viscerally upsetting line in the entire show is literally just van’s immediate, desperate, “i’m gonna try my mom!” not an emergency line, not even panic-dialing a 911 that wouldn’t work anyways. she’s a kid. she wants to call her mom.

Steven L. Sears has so much great commentary in these cast/crew interviews that I just want to upload everything he says. But I don’t want to be biased. Still though, he understands the show in such a way that has always been the way I’ve understood it. Especially the soulmate theme and how these two lead characters literally cannot be without each other because they are fundamentally that of the yin-yang and you cannot separate yin-yang otherwise it is no longer "yin-yang" - which is just inconceivable because everything IS yin-yang. Everything embodies The Way. If that were ever to separate - there’d be nothing at all. That's how the nature of The Way works. He seems to understand that to a degree that's clearly influenced XENA although he communicates it in a much different way to the way I do. But take what he says here for example about Xena and Gabrielle being like the Mehndi in that they run parallel to one another and then intertwine and then part ways and continuing like that for eternity...

I mean this episode sets up the course of events for the progression of their relationship for the rest of the show. They're literal soulmates. But it also highly informs all of the narrative set ups and plot arcs and the progression of X&G's relationship even before this episode was written, so Steven obviously had been conceiving this idea for a long time. Maybe even before they realized that the LGBTQ community anchored on to Xena and Gabrielle's relationship as a WLW love story because he was one of the creators that was attesting to the notion that they would most likely have a large queer female following doing what they were doing with having two lead female characters in constant one-on-one interactions together due to the circumstances of them travelling and fighting in service to the greater good together - which furthermore is high-key due to them feeling like strangers and outsiders in their society. Therefore, unintentionally depicting a very queer narrative. I mean, straight white male or not, Steven was probably the greatest push for Xena and Gabrielle to go in the direction of a WLW romance because he understood that what they were depicting was something a queer audience would anchor on to immediately having come from the background of being a creator for a TV show that had three lead male characters in much the same environmental situation as Xena and Gabrielle were in. Riptide preceded Xena and was about three men living on a boat - of which an audience of primarily queer or gay people anchored on to. So Steven had that unique experience as a creator coming into Xena.

So if there's anybody we should be praising and appreciating for how XENA became "THE WLW SHOW" and Xena and Gabrielle `"THE WLW SHIP" - it should be Steven L. Sears because he was down with it going that way from the start of his involvement with the show and the sincerity and authenticity of which he talks about Xena and Gabrielle in the context of them being lovers and soulmates has made him a beloved member of the creators/cast/crew by the fans much more so over Liz Friedman or Chris Manheim or any female creator's involvement in the show. Steven was the creator that wanted to take the soulmate theme seriously. Steven was the creator that made sure Gabrielle had just as much development as Xena did. The storytelling flowed and thrived as much as it did alongside the WLW/queer representation because Steven inextricably combined them together. He made sure that you couldn't detract from one from the other. He made sure that all of it was a natural organic progression. And like I said - you can rewatch the whole TV show back over and you'll see that you can - because of his extremely creative and insightful contributions to what 'Xena: Warrior Princess' is - interpret it as an EPIC love story without feeling like you have to make sacrifices for or manipulate the main narratives because they all wrap around X&G both as individual queer characters and a queer character dynamic.

Here Steven is basically explaining how much these lead female characters are within and without of each other for eternity in much the same way as I've explained that they're one soul in two bodies whose spiritual essences permeated into each other to the point of not being able to separate one character from the other character even though they can be distinguishable as polar opposites in their characters - which is the true non-dual nature of what 'yin-yang' is.

Steven not only understands the absolutely profound relationship that X&G have between them but he also encourages the depiction of it romantically without weakening the storytelling that's already there and already well-established within the lore of the story and that's something that I wish creators in other TV shows would do that have a fully canon WLW/queer ship but can't seem to integrate the representation of that into the storytelling and narratives without making all of it an inconsistent, frustrating and pointless mess to watch because this is what WLW/queer representation IS. It's got nothing to do with whether it's "canon" or "main text" or "explicit" or whatever. It's to do with how well you can integrate the WLW/queer representation between queer or queer-coded characters into the main focus of the TV show and tightly wrap all that storytelling, lore and development around two lead characters that happen to be of the same gender identity without making either aspect weaker or less interesting or appealing or entertaining or compelling. Just making it so that none of it suffers because it's all important to illustrate and represent and the creators of this TV show do a damn fine job of it.

They don't always get everything right. But what they do get right - by the gods does it elevate the TV show into the queer stratosphere and it makes the pitiful attempts of it today look like an amateur's play and the reason why is obviously because they don't really care about it. Not like the 'Xena: Warrior Princess' creators did. Not like Steven did. And I'm just tired of the whole stereotype of male-created and male-dominated TV art/entertainment content being thought of as a negative to queer representation because XENA proves that wrong and I've actually seen for myself some horrifically bad WLW/queer representation created by queer female creators - believe it or not - precisely because they go full-out and full-on with the representation aspect and neglect the storytelling aspect and it's just awful to watch.

This one has got to be my favourite @maplemoonpie @blackdalek.

The way he explains this is just WOW!

I found out how important Steven L Sears was for Xena while listening to Xena Warrior Podcast but I have to say that hearing him speak gives a even bigger understanding of it. It's so important how much he pushed for it and how much space the love between them and the subtext is pushed in his episodes. The lines of the Mehndi and X/G parallels 🔥🔥🔥so good!

Remember what I was saying about bisexual narratives? This is one but since it's about a female romantic interest they had to be a lot more careful with it. But the fact they did an entire episode about the concept of Gabrielle being jealous over Xena and Lao Ma's intimate relationship is significant, and again, just proves how much they took Xena and Gabrielle's relationship seriously whether it was interpreted as a romantic one or not because this is a DRAMA. It's not a joke. In fact it's the only Gabrielle-centric drama. Yeah, there's humour in it with an amnesiac Gabrielle and Joxer trying to get her to remember but that's completely besides the point of what they're saying here.

Which is that Gabrielle betrayed Xena in Chin because she thought Xena was leaving her and going to hook back up with an ex-girlfriend because neither Xena nor Gabrielle had any idea Lao Ma was dead until the point of reaching Chin and then learning that information. So making this an episode in actual context of why Gabrielle did what she did in betraying Xena makes complete sense. Why wouldn't she think that when Xena literally says to her that she'd give her life up with Gabrielle to fulfil some insane debt to a woman she once loved. Gabrielle doesn't understand what that debt is UNTIL Xena explains it after the whole ordeal so - naturally - Gabrielle would think in her grief and anger shit like: "She still loves her and she doesn't want to be with me anymore. I'm nothing to her. I'm not a lover, I'm not a friend, I'm not a sidekick... I never was important to her at all. I was only there to help her pass the time away. Why should I let her have happiness now? Why should I let her have that power over me?" and they really go into this area of thought with her as a full-on drama because petty jealousy like that can be a really compelling storyline and vehicle for character development and we come to get a whole other dimension to Gabrielle's character that we have never gotten before - that we probably never wanted to get - but the creators were like "No, we're taking this relationship so seriously to the point where we have to depict the ugliness in it as well as the beauty because that's what real life couples go through” and Gabrielle has to finally stop lying to herself as well as Xena that her motivations for betraying her and hurting her were not selfish or self-serving because they were and she had to come to terms with the fact that she was never like this when it came to any of the male romantic interests in Xena's life. But with a female one... because she knew Xena was a lot more emotionally invested there... she was a lot worse than she ever was when it came to Ares or Draco or Marcus. She was a lot more fucking concerned and rightly so because like if Xena was into women - why the hell haven't they gotten together? Why are they not more than they are? So you see what I mean about how interpreting them as a slow burn really works with everything going on in the show with all of the narratives because they can do an episode like this and it doesn't feel like it's just come out of left field at all. It feels logical and necessary.

I think as much as Season 3 showed us Gabrielle wasn't the entirely innocent, pure or selfless character - this was the storyline arc that showed that she could be pretty freaking vindictive when she can't get her way with Xena or when she wasn't the center of her attention but I thought that all this made her even more of a great character because she wasn't clean cut anymore. She could be a bitch too and so she was on more equal footing as Xena who we know used to be and would absolutely understand where Gabrielle was coming from.

@blackdalek

This is a great episode. I loved we got an answer for how Gabs go to Chin before Xena but more than that I loved that we got to see more of this side of Gabs she always tries to hide even from herself. I really like the Ares and Gabrielle dynamic that we see sometimes, more in later seasons, but Ares tempting Gabs is fun. I loved how Gabs rationalize each step she takes in her betrayal and it's painfully obvious how jealous she is. The context of Forget Me Not gives even more of that. Gabrielle learning to accept and deal with her short comings is also another cool thing of later seasons

ERIC: "That's why it worked so well. It was grounded in the sense of who these characters were and what they were going through at the time and if you did it just to do it, that makes no sense."

R.J.: "[Xena] clearly allows the circumstances of personalities in her life to dictate to a certain extent who she is. She'd like to be stronger. One of her great attractions to Gabrielle is that Gabrielle doesn't."

Nailed it! These white straight men know exactly what WLW representation is or what it's supposed to be. They're 100% right.

The reason why Xena and Gabrielle works so well and is so beloved in the LGBTQ community even to this day is because they're rooted in reality and authenticity even when they live in an environment of the mythical and fantastical. What they have between them is rooted in so much feeling, emotion and action and it's really difficult to come across a canon WLW ship that isn't just ticking off representation boxes because they have to. The thing is is the XENA lot didn't have to. In fact they were told not to. But they did it anyway because they wanted to. Because they knew it was right for their characters and their relationship. Their natural progression. That's why you see a real relationship and partnership there. It's because they refused to just make it a "give the queer fans a bone to chew on" type of thing that so many TV shows today do because they don't really care about it. They don't care about WLW/queer representation. They don't care about queer female characters and queer narratives. They don't care at all.

These people cared. These straight white men cared. You watch the way they talk about these characters and their relationship together and it's just something that I still have great difficulty finding today. The sincerity and conscientiousness with which they represent Xena and Gabrielle and the intimacy of their relationship. It's astounding.

I will always be so fucking grateful to all of them for just the simple fact that they cared to represent the truth of women loving women. For just the simple fact that they knew what representation is and they endeavoured to showcase it in a time when it was much more beneficial not to. When it was in their best interests to not do that. Yet they did it because they knew it was most right for their characters. Two lead female characters. The only two lead characters credited in the main titles. And they still made it a love story. Think about that.

Dancing between the lines of maintext and subtext because you HAVE to and not because you want to is so much different to forcing and contriving two female characters to have a queer relationship just because it ticks off the "representation" boxes people want ticked. You know, I often think about what it would be like if XENA had been created for and aired on network television or on a streaming service in this day and age and I physically visibly cringe every time because I know it would be awful. These men had it down no problem in a day and age when it was severely censored. You've got to respect them.

I forgot how much ‘One Against An Army’ and ‘The Abyss’ are alike. They’re basically part 1 and part 2.

they really are. One Against an Army is one of my favorite episodes. And yeah, Gabs is very much her own person, for me it's something that is very important to Gabs as a character and I think it's one of the things people that don't like Gabrielle, dislike about her. I'm glad they stick with it

‘When In Rome’ doesn’t seem all that important of an episode at first. But then you realize Xena basically commissioned Gabrielle to kill Crassus. It’s painful cause you know Gabrielle is a person that genuinely does appreciate human life and won’t kill just for the sake of it. If it can be avoided, she will avoid it. Yet, she’s forced to decide time and time again for what to do in the heat of the moment and the conclusion seems to always be for somebody to die. Whether it be herself, Xena or other, and sometimes even at her own hand. She said she accepted the consequences of living her life with Xena early in their travels together, but I don’t think she accounted for the fact she’d have to kill just to keep her and Xena alive. Or, like in the case of this episode, to save Vercinix, a good, innocent man and a hero to his people, from being executed at the order of Caesar. It wasn’t just about sacrificing her own life, it was also sacrificing and betraying everything she stood for so that her and Xena could survive. Season 4 was the storyline for this. Choosing pacifism because she believed it was the right Way for her, then breaking it again when Xena was left vulnerable and defenceless and she had no other option but to make that split-second decision to kill those soldiers that were going to kill her. It was inevitable the way she’d end up. Whether it is a good thing or not is up to you and how you perceive the situations that happen within the episodes. Your better judgement.

This is the life Gabrielle chose. To experience and face all the violence, blood and pain again and again, being just as much a partaker in it as trying to stop it from happening… Just to be with Xena. That’s got to be the most tragically romantic, beautiful and powerful thing I’ve ever known. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Xena and Gabrielle truly are the greatest love story ever told, and I’m not just saying it because they’re my OTP. I’ll be damned if I ever find anything more romantic than Gabrielle’s insistence to throw away her morality for Xena. She’s going against her own sense of self time and again just to protect and defend people’s lives. Especially Xena’s. It’s a testament to how much and how deeply she really loves her and that’s so incredibly romantic. Wouldn’t you agree?

This is another episode where no one really cares about the Xena/Caesar fued. This episode belongs to Gabrielle and her struggle to betray her ideals by personally sending Crassus to the executioner. Commissioned and expected to by Xena, no less.

She's the heart of the whole story here. It all wraps tightly around her.

Just like 'The Deliverer', without what's going on with Gabrielle, it's just another cat-and-mouse Xena VS Caesar game and even though I love the Rome episodes, they're not as interesting as you think they are without Gabrielle’s stuff. And as great as all the other writers are with Gabrielle’s representation and development, only Steven truly gets what Gabrielle’s about. Him and Renee really make this show resonate far beyond a villain-turned-hero seeking redemption story.

Without Gabrielle - this show is half its watch value. Well and truly.

I love this one @blackdalek

I always liked this episode because of Gabrielle and what she's going through. It's a great Gabs episode, truly when she came of age. And I agree with you, the emphasis on all that Gabs sacrifices for Xena is also important because we get a bit better why Gabrielle ended up trying the peace route in during s4.

Of course Renee delivered in every scene! She's always been so good in expressing what Gabs is feeling. I would say without Gabs the show is less than half because Xena is less than what she is with Gabs 💖