Adam Hughes, Poison Ivy

Reblog if its ok to spam you with boops

yelena is aroace, why is it so hard for you to admit it???

I’ve been staying away from this because it feels like such a pointless thing to argue about. Despite me having my own tagging system that keeps me out of the show, character, and ship tags a seemingly endless amount of you have been ceaselessly hounding me for days, trying to police what I say and do on my blog. I've finally reached my breaking point so…here we go I guess.

Let’s start with the basics since it appears that most of you fail to grasp even that. There’s two distinctly different concepts that fandom conflates and/or tries to use interchangeably because evidently only a handful of us took a literature class in school. Time for a lesson.

CANON: Canon are the elements of a fictional story that are officially a part of it. Canon is IRREFUTABLE information provided directly from the media to the audience. In movies and TV this would mean things like action or dialogue that happen ON SCREEN. In a book or comic it would be things EXPLICITLY said or shown on the page. Canon isn’t fan interpretation/speculation, fix-its, headcanons, what-ifs, something an actor said at a con in front of 200 people or that they “thought maybe that’s a thing their character would do” at an interview in a press junket. Canon is what is IN THE TEXT. End of story.

AUTHORIAL INTENT & DEATH OF THE AUTHOR:

-Authorial Intent: An author can have an “intention” with a piece but that ends the moment the story is out of their hands and the reader/viewer takes ownership of it. Why? Because none of us see the world the same way. Literally. The author simply cannot control how an individual will read their work, cannot dictate how we embrace what they supposedly wrote, and cannot force us to throw out our own takeaway of the text. It is entirely possible that my experience with the text or the characters is vastly different than what they “intended” that to be and there is nothing wrong with that. Once art is out in the world it is going to take a life of its own. That is how subjectivity works.

-Death Of The Author: TV Tropes defines Death Of The Author as follows: “It holds that an author's intentions and background (including their politics and religion) should hold no special weight in determining how to interpret their work. This is usually understood to mean that a writer's views about their own work are no more or less valid than the interpretation of the reader.”

Now that we’ve established both those things let’s break down Yelena’s case in particular.

Let’s start with the “Ace” part. It is more than obvious that you guys are taking AUTHORIAL INTENT and confusing it with CANON. One of the authors wrote an obscure blog post where they expressed some thoughts. Let’s highlight key quotes from the post:

“Most scholars agree that the first official use of “aromantic” was documented in 2005. That’s thirty-five years after I was born, six years after Yelena was invented, and—fictionally--approximately ten years after Yelena would have come into being (in the version of events where she was born rather than cloned).”

Oh well...right off the bat, Authorial Intent seems to be out the window. The term didn’t even exist when they created Yelena ergo it is impossible that they set out to write her as “ace”. Next.

“But now, let’s talk a bit about Yelena. When I first invented her, I didn’t give much thought to her romantic life or sexuality because neither factored into the story I was telling at the time. Later, when I had lived with her a little longer and someone asked me if she might be ACE, I thought that actually made a lot of sense for her.”

This is an "afterthought" situation. I’m not saying this to undermine the writer as a person, saying they have ill will, or calling them a liar. But this is - as clearly stated BY THEM - an afterthought. Yelena was not created as an "ace" character. Next.

These are going to be two quotes:

“I like the idea of her being ACE and hope they go with that, but despite my 20+ years writing comics, there isn’t even anyone there I can mention that to. That’s not how comics work. Even if I said she’s X or Y or X and Y, Marvel might be a day away from releasing something that takes her in a totally different direction. Ultimately, my ideas about how Yelena identifies are no more right or wrong than yours.

I have a lot to say about how unfairly creative IP is handled in this industry, but that’s not what we’re here to discuss. What I do want to impart is that it’s a bad idea to trust multibillion-dollar corporations to represent you and your community.”

and

“I am a fan-fic writer and RPer, though, and I firmly believe that when you write or play or draw a character, you get to decide what is and isn’t true about them. No one can tell you you’re wrong (except, perhaps, your GM) – that’s the entire point. So if your question is really, “do you think it’s okay if I write/play Yelena as X or Y or interested in Z,” I am always going to support your choices. 100%. Do what you think feels right and makes sense. FWIW, you have my blessing."

The writer is LITERALLY TELLING YOU, in black and white, to headcanon Yelena as whatever you want because...

Their own ideas of Yelena are basically headcanons at this point.

They understand the inherent importance of representation and they agree that it would be cool that she could be this one thing but that they do not make and cannot make any creative decisions about what the character is or isn’t.

They are making it clear to you - the fan - that they do not get to dictate canon because they do not own the character. Disney/Marvel does. They are telling you that “you as an individual decide what her truth is and how you want her to represent to YOU” and yet somehow you guys turned that open invitation into “I must hound everyone who disagrees with my personal interpretation of how I want her to represent ME”.

Now, relevant quotes excerpted…beyond this one blog post there is no other actual canon evidence in any of the comics of Yelena verbalizing anything about her sexuality. At all. Anywhere. If you have it, please make me eat crow. Correct me. But I’ve been doing vast research on it for a couple of days now and have even asked people to provide it and no one can which is pretty strong evidence that there isn’t. All that anyone can come up with is the author's blog post and another interview where they have yet another throwaway sentence of Authorial Intent. This is it:

"PROBABLY MORE LIKELY". That is an opinion, my friends. This is all you have. Intent and Opinions does not canon make.

Now, onto my absolute fucking favorite part of this whole thing...

You want to know what IS canon? You want to know what you all conveniently and willingly choose to gloss over and never mention because it doesn't serve your narrative?

1) The fact that CANONICALLY Yelena is a lingerie model and a sex worker who owns a soft-core porn empire. [x]

2) The fact that in this scene she has an entire conversation with Natasha about how she chooses to use her body to sexually manipulate targets to get what she wants:

Interesting how I had to start doing research into Yelena to learn that because in this entire conversation about “representation” sex workers and sex positive, feminist women had never once come up. Funny how apparently sex workers don’t deserve a superhero then? Hmmmm...

I’m not saying one is more worthy than the other, just a point I figured was worth flagging because it just seems oh so very curious to me.

--

Let’s move onto the “Aro” part because this is the real doozy. This is the one y’all truly bent yourselves into a pretzel to come up with. At least there is some sort of something you can cling to on the "ace" front but on this one you really just went for the mountain of straws and started to grasp.

The "proof" you guys use of her being "aro" is a single panel of her saying "I'm not...anything". Here's the entire scene instead of just the one frame you guys use out of context:

I'm going to use two different sources here to debunk this one.

- This person had already read the whole series the panel you guys chose to extract that ONE frame from and completely misconstrue to support your point. Here are a couple of excerpts of the ask they answered:

“…It’s more people seeing that one panel and misunderstanding it.[…] The panel where she says "I’m not anything" is a reoccurring theme throughout this series specifically about her not seeing herself as the Black Widow and her dehumanization of herself. The full page itself is about the woman she was talking to goading Yelena by asking if she was into BDSM.”

I then had a DM conversation with the person to find out more because I wanted to get further context about the series as a whole since they had the full picture. I specifically asked them questions about this part. They said the following:

“The way she [the woman] degrades her [Yelena] and calls her worthless is supposed to be feeding into Yelena thinking she isn’t as good as Natasha and how she’s not truly the Black Widow. The "I Am Nothing" is the writers very badly trying to ham fist their way into having Yelena saying she is nothing as she is not the Black Widow, which is the main point of the comic."

Without having read the rest of the comic, if I were to see these panels in isolation, I would have a slightly different interpretation of the scene, because...again...no one digests texts the same way. This is a prime example of that. What I would gather from it is that Yelena would be saying “I am nothing” as in “I don’t label myself as anything” rather than literally just jumping straight to “I am aromantic”. Like…that is such a giant stretch that it’s almost laughable.

The second person I'm quoting is an AROACE person who made a whole thread on twitter agreeing that Yelena is NOT canon aroace and sharing pretty solid (and similar) factual evidence as to why.

[Full disclosure: I was sent this link as I was in the process of finishing this post by someone who knew I was writing it and I figured it was worth adding an Aro/Ace voice to the mix as well].

Here are some good excerpts:

"...in said interview grayson talks about yelena being asexual then proceeds to describe yelena as aromatic instead, making it clear that she doesn't know the difference between the two orientations..."

The writer then proceeds to break down and analyze the same misconstrued panels I was quoting above. She runs through several possible scenarios of what that scene could mean, all just as likely as the other. All valid interpretations. All different versions of Yelena as an LGBT character. This is the most important part to me tho:

"...once again think about the time and place yelena grew up in. you're going to try and tell me yelena knows what asexual is and what it means? muchless aromantic? she grew up in approximately 70s russia... expecting her to know her sexuality at that point is kinda weird?

now with all this in mind (especially the last three!) it pretty much completely erases any chance that those panels are meant to be her saying shes aroace. as far as im aware these are the only two pieces of evidence people try to use to confirm yelena as canonically aroace. both are very easily debunked.

i am by no means here to tell anyone not to write yelena as aroace, she's your character do what you want! i'm only here to educate people on this topic. and as someone who is BOTH aro and ace its absolutely my place to speak on this. [...] all i want is for this non-existent canon to stop being continuously shoved down everyone's throats."

And finally:

"i'd also just like to add the way a lot of people tend to handle this topic of conversation is very weird. if your first instinct when you see an aroace character is to say they cant be shipped or cant have sex... that's weird! aroace is a spectrum! not all aroaces are repulsed by sex and relationships! yes, some aroaces are! but not all of them. to immediately force her into that box with no evidence is extremely stereotypical! a very good majority of conversation based around aroace yelena is riddled with stereotypes."

--

I'm going to revisit the opening lesson for a beat because it has to do with my final point. Let me quote myself in case we already forgot:

"Canon is IRREFUTABLE information provided directly from the media to the audience. In movies and TV this would mean things like action or dialogue that happen ON SCREEN."

Why am I circling back? Because with this new wave of IP and adaptations that we're living in. So many pieces of IP are getting adapted from podcasts, comics, books, etc into TV/Film. Changes are always going to be made from the original to the screen. Always. ALWAYS. What is canon in one is not necessarily going to be canon in the other. They're two completely separate pieces of media. Every single time. They immediately become divorced and stand-alone from each other as soon as a derivative is created.

It's why you see things like couples being "endgame" in books but not in shows/movies. Or people being alive or dead in books but not in TV/films. Or major story points being changed. Or new characters being introduced or omitted from adaptations at all. They are not the same thing. Canon on text is one thing. CANON ON SCREEN IS ANOTHER. Shut up already about "what's canon here must be canon here" and learn the difference.

Do you want to know how much characters/relationships have changed from Marvel comics to the MCU? Let me list a few things that are canon in the comics just for quick references.

Black Widow had romances with Bucky, Hawkeye, and Daredevil.

Hela is Loki’s daughter not his sister.

Pepper was never married to Tony.

Black Window and the Hulk have never been on the Avengers together.

Natasha and Yelena are rivals not sisters.

I could keep going but I think you get the point. Marvel Comics are not the MCU. I'll repeat:

MARVEL COMICS ARE NOT THE MCU.

Simply because something happens or is true is one does not mean it must be true in the other. It is especially important to drive that point home in this case because "Yelena is aroace" isn't even a canon fact in the comics. It's farfetched at best. At best.

My goal with this is not to tell you to not headcanon Yelena as aroace. If that is important to you, dear god fucking do it to your heart's content. No one is trying to fucking take that from you. Matter of fact, if you want to string two whispers of a stretch together and pretend in your delusional little head that it’s “canon” be my guest. Where the issue begins is that you are now trying to militaristically enforce this “canon” myth when it is nothing more than that…A MYTH. And you are trying to force it on people who weren't fighting you on it to begin with. People like me who were just over here in my own corner of the internet minding my own business. I wasn’t invading your spaces, arguing with any of you, or trying to debunk any of your beliefs until you all insisted on coming to me with this bullshit over and over and over again.

All I - a casual viewer who had zero knowledge of the comics or the backstory - wanted to do was calmly enjoy and interpret these two characters and their relationship however the show had established them which was...AS A BLANK SLATE. Right now in the MCU they are non-denominational. They have never said Kate is [XYZ] and Yelena is [ABC] therefore I am free to construe them and pair them however I see fit. It is not up to you to tell me otherwise.

Now, with all that settled, leave me the fuck alone.

Congrats to Velma in the latest movie for being a lesbian.

Also a reminder that the company who owns Scooby-Doo, Warner Bros. Discovery, recently:

Laid off countless staff

Is likely doing more layoffs we don’t even know about

Cancel completed projects to get tax breaks

Removed countless animated series with no warning and without telling the staff

Is being sued for inflating HBO Max user numbers by Tens-Of-Millions

Turned beloved IPs (The Matrix/Harley Quinn/etc) into NFTs

Is STILL making “Bad Wizard Lady” projects

AND SO MUCH MORE!

I wonder, really, if the staff who made the most recent Scooby-Doo movie where Velma is a lesbian were even paid properly or even still have their JOBS…

A little Nuts N’ Dolts angst

A little prompt a wrote a couple months ago for a friend of mine.

Walking through the decayed ruins of Beacon was nothing if not cathartic for Ruby after all these years. The war against Salem had long been over, Beacon’s campus relocated to avoid a repeat of the past, and many had moved on from the events that had transpired on these hallowed grounds.

Ruby hadn’t.

That’s why she was here after all. On the anniversary of one of the worst days of her life.

She walked through what would have been the entrance hall, the shattered remains of the doors still lie in heaps around the door’s frame. Dust is kicked up from her steps, uncovering shards of Atleasian knights strewn across the floor.

“I can’t believe you! You never told anyone what was truly going on!” Ruby screamed.

“And I take full responsibility for that. It was a mistake…”

“A mistake that I will never forgive you for.”

“I don’t expect you to, in fact, I would prefer if you didn’t.”

“So many people died...people we were supposed to protect! They didn’t deserve to die!”

“And that is MY burden to bare Miss Rose, no one else's!”

“It is my burden when I didn’t keep my promise! I failed them…”

Her footsteps echoed off of the empty corridor leading to the cafeteria, the clicks of her heels against the stone the only sound to be heard.

“Are you okay friend Ruby?”

She spins around to find nothing there.

“Another stupid memory…” Ruby says to herself.

“Are you okay friend Ruby?” Penny asks as they walk into the main hall the night of the dance, “Your hand is shaking.”

“I’m nervous.”

“Nervous about what? We’re just going to be dancing.”

“I know, but we’re going to be dancing...together…”

“I don’t understand.”

“Hold on,” Ruby says as she pulls Penny off to the side, “Friends normally don’t go to dances together Penny.”

“So are we not friends?”

“No no Penny, I just...don’t know how to explain this…”

“Are we more than friends?”

“No, but...I want us to be…” Ruby says with a blush.

“Ruby,” Penny says lacing her hand with Ruby’s, “You deserve someone better...someone real.” She says, tapping her arm to make the metallic clang for emphasis.

“You are real! You think just because you were made instead of born makes you any different from me? You can feel, you have an aura, you…”

“But I don’t know if I can...what’s the word?...love. I don’t know what that means for someone like me.”

“I know that I care about you, I want to see you happy, and I’m going to keep you safe no matter what.”

“Is that what love is?”

“That’s what it is to me.”

“Then I think I can manage that.”

“Does that mean…” Ruby studders.

“I believe it is customary for one of us to ask the other to be in a relationship.”

“Penny, will you be my...girlfriend?”

She kisses her cheek as she wraps her arms around Ruby’s shoulders , “I still don’t know if I can be enough for you, but I can try.”

Ruby presses against her to tighten the embrace, “You will always be enough for me.”

The end of the corridor is blocked by the collapsed roof. A blinding silver glow comes from Ruby’s hand and the debris moves itself out of the huntress’ way. The dorms were only a short walk from the cafeteria, but that didn’t stop the memories from coming back to Ruby in waves.

Passing Oobleck’s classroom reminded her of the time Penny had snuck into the back of the classroom and spent the whole time trying to distract her from the lesson by drawing the two of them.

Next was Goodwitch’s. Ironwood requested for Penny to be able to attend Glynda’s class, letting her spar with students was one of the easiest ways to gauge her abilities, and Ruby was the first one selected(she suspected Penny had something to do with that.) It wasn’t as much a fight as it was a dance between the two. The constant clash of metal and spray of sparks each time their weapons met was exhilarating for the two.

Then came the dorms, and what a mistake that was.

The halls were blackened with Grimm soot. Every surface etched with the scars of the fighting that had become the school’s legacy, every surface but a single door, one engraved with four letters, RWBY. It was spotless, as if all the grimm feared to come near it. Gently, Ruby pushed open the door. A thin layer of dust covered the room and all it contained.

“Why do I keep coming back here? It’s not like this will change anything.” Ruby thinks to herself as she look over the room.

That’s when she spots it, a small glint of metal beneath what used to be Weiss’ bed. Fully extending Crescent Rose, Ruby pulls a small chain out from under the bed frame. It was a simple gold chain with a small locket attached.

“No...I was sure this was gone.”

Inside the locket was a photograph, one taken from a Scroll camera, of Ruby and…

“You don’t deserve to say her name!” screams a voice in her head.  

“You’re right. I failed her…”

The words echoed off of the empty walls, only drowned out as Ruby fell to her knees sobbing.

“Why? Why did it have to be Penny and Pyrrha? Why couldn’t it have been Cardin or anyone else?! They didn’t deserve to die!”

The silver glow returned to Ruby’s hands as her anger came in waves. The light grew from a small globe to a staff of pure energy, one she had only seen once before, the night she fought Salem.

“I DON’T WANT THIS!!! I WOULD GIVE IT ALL AWAY TO HAVE THEM BACK!” Ruby says, letting the staff fall to the floor.

As if made of glass, the staff shatters, but the pieces begin to rise and form a frame around the window.

“This has to be some kind of trick, some curse Salem placed on me, they can’t come back…”

“If they can’t,” a voice in her head laments, “then what is the harm in trying?”

She presses her hands to the glowing crystal frame only to have sparks fly from the edges pressed against the wall.

“Please, let me see them again, if not both, let me see Penny again!”

The frame filled with the same glow from before, only it began to clear. On the other side appeared to be a small house, something not too extravagant, but homely at the same time. Standing on the front porch was an older version of herself with an older Penny by her side. In Penny’s arms was a small bundle of cloth with a tuft of brunette hair.

“I can’t believe it. This is what Salem took from me. This life with her.”

Ruby places her hand onto the image.

“Ruby…” Penny on the other side of the image speaks.

“Penny?! Can you hear me?”

“Ruby…”

“Penny please!”

“RUBY!”

The sound of Penny yelling her name brings her upright. Tears roll down her cheeks as the shuddering starts.

“FUCK THAT NIGHTMARE!”

Arms wrap around her shoulders, “Was it the same one again?” Penny asks as she cradles Ruby in her arms.

“Salem’s curse yea.”

“We’ll find a way to fix it. I promise.” Penny says, kissing her forehead.

“You always bring me back. Even when I truly believe Salem won, when I believe you and Pyrrha are gone for good, you pull me out.”

“I’m glad. Sometimes I worry you’re not going to come back one of these times.”

“Don’t worry. I intend to keep my promise, I’ll keep you safe and happy for as long as I live.”

“That was so cheesy of you to put in your wedding vow.”

Ruby giggled, “It was, but I meant it, then and now.”

Penny sighs, “I know you did and still do,” She says, running her hands through my hair, “Is there anything new in the nightmare this time?”

“Nothing different than before. Though one thing about the nightmare is strange, the image I always see of the two of us that brings me out has you holding a baby. I know we talked before and you didn’t think...”

Penny freezes, “Uhm…about that...”

I look up at her, “Please tell me that is you’re about to say something incredible.”

“I talked to Weiss and she seems to think there might be a way to use dust to…”

“Let’s try!”

To be continued...

AND THEY WERE ROOMMATES!!!!!!!

imagine your OTP

I needed this a long time ago

Words to replace said, except this actually helps

I got pretty fed up with looking for words to replace said because they weren’t sorted in a way I could easily use/find them for the right time. So I did some myself.

IN RESPONSE TO Acknowledged Answered Protested

INPUT/JOIN CONVERSATION/ASK Added Implored Inquired Insisted Proposed Queried Questioned Recommended Testified

GUILTY/RELUCTANCE/SORRY Admitted Apologized Conceded Confessed Professed

FOR SOMEONE ELSE Advised Criticized Suggested

JUST CHECKING Affirmed Agreed Alleged Confirmed

LOUD Announced Chanted Crowed

LEWD/CUTE/SECRET SPY FEEL Appealed Disclosed Moaned

ANGRY FUCK OFF MATE WANNA FIGHT Argued Barked Challenged Cursed Fumed Growled Hissed Roared Swore

SMARTASS Articulated Asserted Assured Avowed Claimed Commanded Cross-examined Demanded Digressed Directed Foretold Instructed Interrupted Predicted Proclaimed Quoted Theorized

ASSHOLE Bellowed Boasted Bragged

NERVOUS TRAINWRECK Babbled Bawled Mumbled Sputtered Stammered Stuttered

SUAVE MOTHERFUCKER Bargained Divulged Disclosed Exhorted

FIRST OFF Began

LASTLY Concluded Concurred

WEAK PUSY Begged Blurted Complained Cried Faltered Fretted

HAPPY/LOL Cajoled Exclaimed Gushed Jested Joked Laughed

WEIRDLY HAPPY/EXCITED Extolled Jabbered Raved

BRUH, CHILL Cautioned Warned

ACTUALLY, YOU’RE WRONG Chided Contended Corrected Countered Debated Elaborated Objected Ranted Retorted

CHILL SAVAGE Commented Continued Observed Surmised

LISTEN BUDDY Enunciated Explained Elaborated Hinted Implied Lectured Reiterated Recited Reminded Stressed

BRUH I NEED U AND U NEED ME Confided Offered Urged

FINE Consented Decided

TOO EMO FULL OF EMOTIONS Croaked Lamented Pledged Sobbed Sympathized Wailed Whimpered

JUST SAYING Declared Decreed Mentioned Noted Pointed out Postulated Speculated Stated Told Vouched

WASN’T ME Denied Lied

EVIL SMARTASS Dictated Equivocated Ordered Reprimanded Threatened

BORED Droned Sighed

SHHHH IT’S QUIET TIME Echoed Mumbled Murmured Muttered Uttered Whispered

DRAMA QUEEN Exaggerated Panted Pleaded Prayed Preached

OH SHIT Gasped Marveled Screamed Screeched Shouted Shrieked Yelped Yelled

ANNOYED Grumbled Grunted Jeered Quipped Scolded Snapped Snarled Sneered

ANNOYING Nagged

I DON’T REALLY CARE BUT WHATEVER Guessed Ventured

I’M DRUNK OR JUST BEING WEIRDLY EXPRESSIVE FOR A POINT/SARCASM Hooted Howled Yowled

I WONDER Pondered Voiced Wondered

OH, YEAH, WHOOPS Recalled Recited Remembered

SURPRISE BITCH Revealed

IT SEEMS FAKE BUT OKAY/HA ACTUALLY FUNNY BUT I DON’T WANT TO LAUGH OUT LOUD Scoffed Snickered Snorted

BITCHY Tattled Taunted Teased

Edit: People, I’m an English and creative writing double major in college; I understand that there’s nothing wrong with simply using “said.” This was just for fun, and it comes in handy when I need to add pizzazz. 

Maybe this fish is what happened to that one prime minister...

NO! That’s so savage!

Does it make sense to make fanart for a book that does not yet exist? Yes. I think yes.

I may have spent all night drawing it in a haze, but when I found out @jazzfordshire small town au is turning into a book, the whole thing was beyond my control.

I'm just so excited and proud of Jazz! I can't wait to read all about Dani and Eleanor and to have this book proudly sit on my shelf!