Backflipping through reality at ludicrous speeds. What does RB stand for, anyway? | Ko-Fi
Gallus is really bad at buckball. Like, really bad. Which wouldn't be an issue if it weren't for the fact that the other team also has a male griffon on it. Which is making this 'friendly game' feel more like a life-and-death competition.
Maybe Ocellus can help him figure out what's going on.
Preread by the wonderful TheManFromAnotherTime!
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Gosh, I love when the changelings are characterized as not being as weighed down by gender norms, it just makes sense. Amazing characterization and story, loved it.
So wait, is Gallus queer or something?
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He might be. Or he might just not be comfortable or happy with the gender expectations for griffon cocks.
So wait, is Gallus reaching a point of understanding that traditional gender roles and norms are merely fabricated societal expectations without genuine link to personal and biological fact and can, in no way, truly account for every personal experience and often lead more to the individual changing to fit the role rather than the role actually fitting the individual, an experience which can be both difficult and degrading for the individual as they lose aspects of themselves to conform to a meaningless and unbeneficial farce or something?
Gallucellus OTP
So I have to share in the apparent confusion about this fic's intentions that we seem to be having in some of the comments here. Obviously, it's trying to point out the silliness of gender roles/norms/stereotypes, but it goes about addressing it in what feels like a somewhat muddled manner. Because as I see it, the real problem the fic's trying to address is how Gordon is being both overly competitive (technically not even related to the subject of gender at all) and trying to push a somewhat toxic and unhealthy version of masculinity onto Gallus that Gallus doesn't feel he needs. Gallus, in fact, seems to be fairly content with his own gender identity and is more taking issue with how creatures such as Gordon are pushing the idea that this is still "not good enough." Ergo, it's really more Gordon who needs to change their views, not the other way around. Something I personally can even relate to--society's views on the "ideal masculinity" (or femininity for that matter) are frankly absurd and I'd love to see society finally wise-up and abandon promoting it.
Which is why the story's end "solution" to the problem seems...odd...to me. Because not only does it seem to suggest that Gallus was the one who needed to change after all when it's again Gordon who needed to change his views to be more accepting, it also seemed to signal that the solution is to just give up on the masculinity issue entirely and switch to the other side of the equation in a more femboy/trans sort of fashion.
I mean, if the intent here is to convey that Gallus actually does swing that way, then fine, by all means and more power to him. I'm just not sure this was the most ideal way to go about conveying that. It honestly feels like the story was trying to tackle two ideas with one approach here, but despite there certainly being some overlap, the two subjects aren't actually compatible with each other like that, and I feel like they're clashing as a result.
Still, a good attempt, I suppose, and I agree, gender stereotyping is an awful practice that really needs to end.
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That’s not quite right, though. The point of him putting on the cheerleading outfit isn’t to signal that he’s given up on his masculine side; it’s to display that he’s become more okay with and confident in his less masculine aspects, and to convey this to Gordon in a dramatic fashion. It’s not a signal that Gallus needs to change. He doesn’t.
There’s not really a ‘solution’ that’s meant to be presented, here. Gallus is on a journey of self discovery; this is just one step in that journey.
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Okay, but I'm still not sure putting on the cheerleader outfit really helps with the problem either way, because, looking at it from Gordon's perspective, I kinda doubt he picked up on whatever point Gallus was hoping to get across, and Gallus didn't exactly try to make it clear either. I get that part of it is Gallus signalling he's not going to let Gordon's thoughts on the matter bother him so much regardless, so it's not currently important to him if Gordon did or didn't...but it still doesn't feel like it changes or really addresses the core problem, at least in any way that would actually help it to...you know...stop being a problem altogether. Gordon is still going to keep on doing what he does, if not with Gallus, then probably with somebody else that doesn't deserve it either. It just sort of pushes off the problem for another day and quite possibly for someone else to be burdened with trying to address. And so I feel like going dramatic to make a point didn't actually make the intended point as clearly as wanted. The fact I picked up an incorrect interpretation of things only proves that, as does other commenters coming off as feeling uncertain they actually picked up on the intended interpretation themselves.
And I know in reality that this is something that can't just be "fixed" overnight and I'm not saying it should...but it'd still feel a little more rewarding to me if the story conveyed some sense that things were still nudged in the right direction for that, at least more than this does currently. And to that end, I feel like there were better solutions to end the story with than going with this dramatic way, as you say (amusing though it was to read, I will still give you that much
)
Still, I want to convey the story is by no means bad, and I fully approve of the message it wants to convey. I'm just uncertain it's actually conveying it as clearly as it could've, and I'm just want to help it do so, y'know?
Girly boys are hot! Take this to the Romance level!
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Scyphi seal of approval, yayyyy!
There's some sad little person going around and downvoting the comments, I see.
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"What's a gender? Is that a pokemon?"
"That's Gengar. Gender is a male goose."
- a conversation between two changelings regarding gender
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"No, that's a gander. A gender is when you're taking a real good look at something!"
"That's... Also a gander, actually."
idk what this was but i liked it. while reading it I just kept talking aloud in J.K. Simmons' Voice saying
"alright, I've been thinking if anyone tells you to be somebody else, fuck em! in fact fuck everyone else! make life rue the day it tried to fuck with you! I don't give a damn if you think I'm x y z. Gender, what the hell am i gonna with that?!"
GALLUS IN A CHEERLEADING OUTFIT GOD BLESS
nice fic nice stuff
i enjoy that the end feels more like stepping into something new and more comfortable as opposed to like, this grand solution
Bugs? On my rooftop?
In any case, lovely little tale of rising above external expectations and rubbing them in the face of those who benefit from the system, yet are themselves constrained by it. Gordon is jailer and prisoner alike so long as he puts so much of his self-worth into being a “real man,” and Gallus’s refutation of that is a bitter reminder of both that imprisonment and how it doesn’t really apply in Equestria, which itself underscores how those gender roles are not universal truths, but social constructs he only treats as such.
So yeah, fun little story.
Man this was awesome! Definitely a great display of being comfortable with oneself to do that, masculinity be damn.