I Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself, Thank You OP

I couldn't have said it better myself, thank you OP

Monkey D. Luffy: The Infantilization of his Character and Why that is Not Okay

So here’s my long promised infantilization rant about Luffy. It is quite long so buckle in everyone.

Something I noticed about OP, very early on in the fandom, was that people treat Luffy like he’s a ten yr old in the body of a seventeen/nineteen yr old. This treatment can even be seen in how some bits of the fandom are upset (not all of these people, but some) with the “seriousness” of post-timeskip and look at pre-timeskip in such a “holy fun-times-silly-bit” light. They just, in summary, (and once again, not everyone, but some) don’t like that Luffy acts “more like” an adult than he did before, having thought of him as some stupid ten yr old who kinda didn’t know what he was doing.

The biggest way people infantilize Luffy is by calling him stupid and childish in the way he acts. Sure, there are moments where Luffy does show himself to be not-so intelligent and moronic, but the majority of these instances are riddled with hyperbolic phrases and actions to really drag home humour (Oda, and manga/anime creators period, really love to use hyperbolic humour in their works). For example, when Luffy goes red in the face when he “thinks” bc its “too hard.” Unfortunately, Luffy thinks all the time (all sentient species do) and so that scene is just a hyperbolic humour to sort of drive home the point Luffy’s not the most conventional or “sharpest tool” in the shed. 

They point to him struggling with words, being hyper, not understanding certain social ques and etiquette, etc. as reason why he is like a child and stupid, using examples (like those I mentioned above) as to WHY Luffy’s a kid or childish or “uwu baby.” This is an incredibly problematic way of thinking (outside of just being funny or using hyperbolic language yourself) and I’ll elaborate more below.

Artists depict a SEVENTEEN/NINETEEN year old Luffy, who is canonically very fit, well built, and while lean, and a physically/mentally matured young adult - as a skinny, small, big-eyed, innocent chubby-cheeked baby. Which when compared to the way they draw Law/Zoro/Sanji etc. really makes Luffy look TEN and not THE YOUNG ADULT HE IS. If your art style is leaning more toward how I described Luffy above, and you draw all other characters the same - you are wonderful and keep up your beautiful work. Bc you are not infantilizing and just have that kind of art style. But there are those who draw, for example, Zoro and Law with sharp angles, big chests - as matured and then Luffy small, skinny, and chubby/rosy cheeked beside them which is… Which makes it look like Law/Zoro/etc are standing beside an actual child - which is really not okay. 

People talk about Luffy as if he can’t take care of himself. As if Nami’s the Captain in everything but name and not Luffy bc he’s “too stupid” or “too childish.” They point to how Luffy lets Robin and Nami makes decisions, how the crew face-palms over Luffy, how they have to “hold him back” like he is some child when is not.

I could rant to you about all the reasons WHY Luffy’s an adult - more mature even than the typically seventeen/nineteen yr old, in great detail, but I won’t bc it’s truly clear if you watch/read OP with a critical eye. I’ll just say this. He runs his crew well, he is a very talented fighter, emotionally he is able to understand and aid people extremely well, he understands injustice and such with a very good critical eye (to the point where he can’t really understand how people can be bad/mean), he is capable of understanding situations well enough to knock some sense into people (ex: Luffy telling Vivi she can’t save everyone), he can feed himself, etc. etc. etc. I could keep going, but I won’t bc I’m probably preaching to the choir. 

Anyways, people point to reasons as to why Luffy’s “childish” and “stupid” and I’m here to tell you no, he is not, and you pointing that out is a very ableist way of thinking. 

Individuals who are disabled, who are neurodivergent - as adults - are perfectly matured and capable individuals. However… society doesn’t see them as such and points to certain things and says, “Oh look. Child.” when that is not the case at all. 

Individuals with sensitivity and textural issues are called childish for cutting off tags or being “picky eaters,” wearing the same sets of clothes or eating the same meals. Yet they work and earn a living, feed themselves, do taxes, feed their families, have families, go to clubs, etc. 

Individuals who have speech disorders and/or ADHD/Autism can stutter, forget words easily, have trouble pronouncing them on a common scale, not really understand social ques, etc. Yet they go to work, have families, pay taxes, do their grocery shopping, have sex - yes, this too, etc. etc. They are adults who are mature and not children. Yet bc they might be hyper or talk too fast, or have trouble speaking “normally,” etc. they are labelled childish. 

Luffy, as a character, very much “gives off” the vibe he is neurodivergent. ADHD, Autistic, ADD, honestly you could probably identify even more with him but for the sake of “simplicity” will leave it at these. I personally headcanon Luffy as on the spectrum bc he fits that very well for me. I know others who attribute ADHD to him which fits too. ADHD and Autism can sometimes appear very similar to each other. Maybe Luffy as a character embodies both bc he has both. All the traits people point to that make Luffy “stupid” or “a child” are also traits of someone who is neurodivergent. 

Equating those traits to stupidity and/or the person being childish - and so a child - (and so incapable of taking care of themselves/reliant on others/unmatured as a person) is a very ableist way of thinking bc that is exactly what happens to neurodivergent individuals is the ableist world. 

The infantilization of Luffy, is the infantilization of neurodivergent individuals. It is a very dangerous and problematic way of thinking when one considers the impacts that the infantilization of disabled individuals has had on the community. Such a way of thinking can kill, has killed. So please stop infantilization characters, period. Especially those who are reflective (whether purposely by author, purposely by fandom, or unconsciously/unknowingly) of the disabled community. 

But to finish… If you ship Luffy with anyone or don’t ship him with anyone and draw/depict him very childish near them/compared to them, you are putting out very problematic images. Infantilization of characters who are 17/18/19+ leads to hyper-aging actual children. If you point to a 17 year old and call them a child, a mere baby who can’t take care of themself and needs a parent all the time 24/7, then a ten year old who is a child, a baby who can’t take care of themselves and needs a parent 24/7 is unwittingly equated to that seventeen yr old. People probably don’t realise this/mean it but that is what is going on. A Ten yr old is not a seventeen yr old or older. They are ten. A seventeen year old can go to the mall by themself, kiss their partner, have a romantic/sexual partner. A ten yr old can not, ever. I could keep writing examples, but I hope people see where I’m going with this and get my point. 

In conclusion, I guess. Stop infantilization, it is ableist and dangerous when pushed onto people/characters who are disabled and incredibly problematic and very dangerous, period. No matter who it is done to.  

This ^^ also directly interacts in a very intertwined way with the feminization of Luffy and I will be writing on that next.

SOMEONE NOTICED

Why is Kalim being whitewashed so much-

No fr 💀💀💀💀

someone call cps my god

Writing prompts, October edition ✨

Cw: reader’s kind of a creep ngl 💀

4. Obsession+Cuddling… ft. Rook Hunt

This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.

He had it all carefully planned out, how he was going to greet you, how your face should’ve contorted in confusion and fear, how he was supposed to disappear with a flourish without a word. He was a hunter, after all. His plans don’t fail, not when he’d spent all week lamenting over each and every possible scenario.

Except for one, much to his dismay.

“Rook…” there came your lovesick voice, his name dripping out your mouth like acid to the back of his neck “Rook… my pretty hunter…”

Could you truly call him a hunter? When he himself was the one cornered, back against the wall that just so happened to be yourself? When he couldn’t escape your unnervingly tight grasp around his waist?

You nuzzled your face into his hair, inhaling the scent of him, storing it in your memory blissfully. This was the life.

He was thankful, at the very least, that you spared him the shame of showing his face to you in such a reputation damaging position.

You couldn’t see the way his face morphed into one of pure terror.

You couldn’t see the way he shut his eyes closed to not see the mangled evidence of what used to be his dorm mate, now reduced to bits of shredded cloth on the floor of his room.

You couldn’t feel the way he trembled each time you opened your mouth to whisper something into his ear ever so tenderly, like how he was planning on doing to you.

His hairs stood on end when you ran your hands over his body, like he wasn’t even a living being, like he was simply a doll for your own personal entertainment.

Only the Seven will know how you managed to take away his magic, how you turned his perfect fantasy on him just like that. How you hunted the hunter.

He couldn’t, even in his wildest dreams, predict that you’d like being hunted, that you’d like his practiced taunts, to the point of studying them and using them on him.

And now he was stuck, in your embrace, never to see the light of day again. Living as your pretty little boy for the rest of his now pointless life.

Jack, leave him alone, let him die

WHUMPTOBER 2022 - ALT PROMPT 7 - PROTECTIVE

Did I draw Jack too big here? Probably. Do I care? Not really. Let him be a big terrifying woof woof who can dwarf his Dorm leader. As a treat. Leona has many thoughts going through his head, several he will absolutely bottle up and never talk about. But one of them is probably equivalent to D:< ASDFSDFSDFSDFASFSDFSDFSDFSDFSDF

(Jack is being a good Freshman leave him alone) -NO ROMANCE INCLUDED-

AJAHAKWBWKWBWKWVWKAVSJWOABS

Hi! Love your OC “Yuujirou”. I was wondering if you can write a one-shot about yandere Ruggie with Yuujirou. And Yuujirou just starts to do his mating rituals like slightly pushing Ruggie and being close to him. I feel like Ruggie would be happy/flustered that he’s close to him as he loves Yuujirou, and that he’s on cloud 9 when he realizes that Yuujirou is courting him as his lover.

Keep up the good work!! 😁

omg thank you for the request i absolutely love this idea!!! legit made me so happy to see you have no idea. enjoy! :)

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character: ruggie bucchi, twst

contains: oc used as main character - not an x reader, yandere themes, male main character, not canon within little panther

view the oc here. for basics, he's more or less a black panther beastman (referred to as hybrid, as they are different things, but similar) named yuujirou. you can read the fanfic i'm writing for him here (quotev) or here (ao3).

post referenced: yuujirou's mating rituals

It started with small nudges, here and there.

They weren’t much, but of course Ruggie took notice - he always did, with Yuujirou.

Along with that, the panthers scent slowly started to overtake the clothes that the hyena wore, the things he brought around with him, everything. At first, he just thought it was a pleasant coincidence. One that he would enjoy while it lasted.

But, it didn’t stop. If Ruggie didn’t know better, he would say it almost seemed like Yuuji was marking him. A thought that made him blush with a love struck grin, but one that he dismissed just as quickly as it appeared.

Maybe he shouldn’t have, though, the hyena realizes now as Yuujirou greets him with an outright cheek rub and a slight push. That had to count for something, didn’t it?

He returns the gesture, of course, pleased to hear how the hybrid purrs at the exchange. But before he can lose focus, Ruggie clears his throat.

“So, um, Yuuji…” He starts, having to take a moment to admire how the panther responds to his call to attention with starry eyes before he can continue. “You’ve been more, ahem, touchy? Lately?”

“Not that I’m not okay with that! I… really, really like it, actually. I was just wondering…”

His voice dies out before he can finish his sentence, and with wide eyes he watches how the hybrid rolls his eyes and lets out a chuff halfway between annoyed and affectionate, slipping his hand behind the hyena and pulling him close into an embrace of sorts, their noses just shy of touching.

A few moments pass, Ruggie getting increasingly more red as his brain goes into overdrive, even more so when Yuujirou suddenly pulls back with the hint of a growl.

There’s a million apologies on his lips in an instant, rushing to try and dispel any misunderstandings that came up because of his silence, but they all fizzle away when he sees Yuuji instead calmly walk to a nearby bush and pull the first years that constantly follow him around out of it.

“Oh. Yeah. That… makes more sense.” Ruggie mumbles, more to himself than anything, watching how the jaguar scolds their audience as his brain starts to restart.

He would have never guessed that his guess would’ve been right. Really, he thought it was much too presumptuous of him - he was half expecting to have left the conversation with threat of never speaking to Yuujirou again.

Not that he would’ve stood for that, would’ve just let it happen without warming his way back into his panther’s life, but it was the thought that mattered. That scared him anyways.

To see that he was right in the first place, that the object of all his affections actually did like him, had Ruggie well beyond cloud nine.

Now, all he needs to do is make sure it stays that way.