straw-hat

Hi everyone! As previously mentioned I've returned to the One Piece fandom and my good ol' OTP again. I have also taken an interest in producing more of the Cardcaptor Iceburg story. Thing is I'm now caught up in a dilemma. I'd appreciate a second opinion from those of you who are interested in FrankyxIceburg and this comic. I'm worried that the story might be insulting to people. Over on tumblr I ran across some discussion about cross dressing saying it's offensive to transgender people. That was just one person's opinion though and with a little more digging it looks like there are people arguing for both sides. At this very moment I don't know what to think.

On one side people are saying that having a laugh over a man in a dress or a man deceiving others by pretending to be a woman pokes fun at the struggles trangender people have dealt with. On the other side people argue that cross dressing by nature challenges and laughs at the old fashioned gender rules that have hurt the LGBTQ community to begin with. Here are a couple example quotes from a message board talking about Cloud cross dressing during the Final Fantasy 7 game.

"Playing men crossdressing as comedy is considered transphobic. I am not as educated as I would like in order to eloquently explain why, but basically its the entire idea "oh a MAN dressed as a WOMAN oh and he's doing it to make a FOOL of and DECIEVE another man, hohoho!" comedy is harmful to the trans community, especially because it touches upon stereotypes and assumptions trans folk have had to contend with for decades now (in particular the deception angle)."

And on the other hand:
"Why is Cloud crossdressing transphobic? Short answer is: it isn't.

To reduce the complicated mess of gender dysphoria into something so inelegant as "man wearing women's clothing = trans" is to discredit a lot of the groundwork that has been laid out for growing acceptance of transgender individuals. The bit with Cloud crossdressing is not transphobic, because crossdressing in and of itself has no bearing at all on trans-ness. To borrow a phrase; it's not about your hardware, but the software in your heart. Cloud is male. Cloud is a man. Cloud finds himself in a weird situation where he does something outside of his comfort zone (dressing up as the opposite gender) in order to complete a task. Hilarity ensues because in comedy, often the best laughs stem from breaking social taboos and, still to this day, crossdressing is a pretty big one. It's cute. It's cheeky. It's humorous. The one thing that it is not is a commentary on trans individuals. In fact I'd venture to say it has nothing to do with transgender individuals. Crossdressing is its own thing."

I feel I should mention my intentions for how the story would treat the subject in later chapters. Yes, spoilers below!
Anyone who has read the first chapter knows Iceburg ends up in a dress each time he uses the magic of the cards. He's embarrassed but he uses it to his advantage as a disguise to avoid capture by his enemies. He's defensive about it at first. I planned to make it so over time he grows used to it, stops feeling embarrassed and accepts it like a uniform for the job. Near the end of the story he looks back on his embarrassment and admits to himself that the reason he had been so defensive was because he was afraid that wearing a dress would lead to accusations/assumptions that he's gay. And the reason he was so worried about that was because he was a closeted bisexual with secret feelings for his male best friend. In the end, the experience helps him face a part of his identity.

What do you think? Should I continue this story?

Guess whose old muse came to visit again!

Those of you who like my FxI drawings might be interested. I'm revamping my ask blog on tumblr for them. Check it out! askfrankyxiceburg.tumblr.com/
 I also have a side blog for misc drawings of the pairing. Any way, I'd love it if you'd stop by and send in questions for the boys. If you're on tumblr let me know what your ID is so I can recognize you on tumblr.

I keep meaning to draw a picture of Franky and Iceburg for old times sake. Or one of the characters I drew a lot back in my active DA days.

I need to just let loose and just draw. No fussing and being overly critical of my work. Just draw and really enjoy it.

I imagine some of you have felt the same way before.

I got a bit emotional while looking at some FxI fanart today. It sort of feels like looking at photographs of an old friend. I sure miss all that inspiration it once gave me. 

Update: I ought to mention that while I can't say I will resume drawing FxI as regularly as I once did, I am seriously considering continuing the Cardcaptor Iceburg comic. I actually wrote chapters 2-5 already. I figure I might give it another chance and if it doesn't work out as a comic I could try to do it as a fic with occasional illustrations.