Today marks 30 years since the premiere of 'Xena: Warrior Princess' back in 1995. A show that was never ashamed of its campiness, but at the same time managed to be groundbreaking on multiple levels. Setting new standards for female action heroines, featuring a main character that was messy and flawed, physically strong and athletic, who started as a villain seeking redemption.
Xena, despite its cheesiness and often ridiculous premise, succeeded in pushing the boundaries of queer representation, challenged stereotypes, defied several of the sexist tropes of '90s media, explored LGBTQIA+ themes, even themes of gender identity, and made a clear statement against the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS at the time.
It may not be a flawless masterpiece, but it's a beloved cult classic for good reason.
I distinctly remember adults around me using slurs to describe Xena, which even at the time I was like what? Dude she’s a bad ass and would kick your ass
@floatybirb I explain it more in the linked blog post. In the episode 'Here She Comes ... Miss Amphipolis' the show features an on-screen kiss between Xena and Miss Artiphys who was played by the late Karen Dior who was HIV-positive and an AIDS activist, and sadly passed away a few years later.
It was done as a deliberate message of solidarity and a statement dispelling the myths on how HIV spreads, especially given the widespread fear and misinformation about AIDS of the 90s, and it was pretty groundbreaking at the time.
Funny that, Xena definitely ticked some boxes that made me notice that I'm a straight dude with some fetishes, but I always wondered why I never saw the same level of speculation about the sexuality of Hercules, Sorbo always struck me as way prettier than a dude gets for the sake of women. (To bad Sorbo caught the brainworms)
I'm sure the level of heat in the fanfic is similar for both.
In one of my very few brushes with fame, I was once in the same voice acting class as Lucy Lawless. Suffice to say our career paths took very different directions from that point, but I've followed hers with huge admiration.
Happy Anniversary Xena! New ideas often start small and not so well thought through, but they are a start. What I would like to see in the future of female heroes is better armour. Compared to male colleagues, female heroes lack credible shielding, even basic clothing. Think of (my favourite!) Lara Croft in her silly long pale blue coat fluttering wide open in freezing cold, while all male companions are wearing serious winter gear.😀
In regards to Xena making a statement against the stigma surrounding HIV: in the episode 'Here She Comes... Miss Amphipolis', Xena enters a beauty pageant undercover. There, she encounters Miss Artiphys, a character played by the late Karen Dior, an HIV-positive actor, singer, former adult performer, and drag queen (reports on Dior’s gender identity are contradictory, and probably also affected by '90s culture).
When Xena discovers that Miss Artiphys was an AMAB character who entered the competition presenting as a woman, the latter explains her actions with the line: "You really don’t get it, do you? I guess being born a woman you wouldn’t. This is a chance to use a part of me most people usually laugh at, or worse. A part I usually have to hide. Only here that part works for me, you see?" expecting Xena to force her to drop.
Instead, Xena encourages her to stay in the competition, never reveals her secret, never disrespects her, and in the end, she ends up being crowned winner. After her victory, Xena and Artiphys share a kiss. That was an intentional statement against the widespread misinformation surrounding AIDS and the transmission of HIV that reportedly Lucy Lawless insisted on being included.
It is near impossible to fully explain how *ridiculously* groundbreaking it was that this entire plot happened in the mid '90s.
My dad was a fan of xena growing up. I think nominally it's because it was full of attractive women, but deeply it's because my dad loves this kind of fantasy/scifi/etc. He's always loved stuff like the outer limits, which Xena fit right in wrt tone and visual style. As a result, I watched so much Xena. By contrast, my dad hated Hercules. It always felt so right that Lucy Lawless was an IRL good guy and Kevin Sorbo is an actual villain. Just played what I always knew.
@GabeMoralesVR I think it's no coincidence that so many people, myself included, just gave up on Hercules but love Xena to this day. The two shows were pretty similar in campiness, but Xena had a special kind of heart to it that makes it different. Plus, beyond his bigotry, Kevin Sorbo has all the charisma of chewed gum, and most of the other interesting characters that originated in Hercules moved on and became part of Xena eventually.
To me, Kevin Sorbo's hercules was the epitome of "we have arnold schwartzenegger at home." When you watched Hercules, you felt like you were watching a crappy knock off of better known similar properties (like ignoring that Arnie literally played hercules himself, hercules the show was basically the 1960's batman compared to Conan the Barbarian's Batman 89).
Meanwhile Xena was pretty unlike anything before or even after. You watched just to see new stuff, your OP is a good example
@GabeMoralesVR Yep, I think you make a really solid point. Hercules didn't really have anything newer or better to add to Schwarzenegger's Conan, and honestly, it was the supporting cast and guest characters like Bruce Campbell's Autolycus that carried the show mostly, and many of them worked better as part of Xena's plot in the end.
Ya, plus Xena actually had a character arc. She was a villain at first! Or I guess more of an anti-hero. It was really cool to see her become such a hero. Hercules basically stayed the same the entire show.
@scy Same! I watched this show as a kid with my mom, loved it. But I didn't get most of the subtext. I was kinda confused by the messaging about the relationship between Xena and Gabrielle. And this episode... My goodness.
@Mondgesicht @scy Watching as a kid, I *did* pick on a lot of hints that there was something going on between these two women beyond them being best friends, but rewatching it as an adult with full awareness of how people fall in love, I noticed that there's a ton of stuff that completely went over my head the first time.
I did almost pick up... I was like: "huh, the way they're acting... almost like they're lovers..." But I was kinda waiting for what I was used to seeing from hetero relationships in the media. People would be shown kissing and having sex. So I felt like it couldn't be meant to portrait a love relationship. Also in German synch we usually don't get a lot of "I love you" because we don't use those words for platonic relationships in German. They may have never said that in the German tv version. Very similar with Sailor Moon.
@Mondgesicht Honestly, I think in hindsight it becomes easier to see, now knowing that the romance was very much intended as it was clarified by the actors and creators involved. Also now knowing the restrictions of 90s television and the limitations they had in what they could show. At least it didn't come off as weird as Haruka and Michiru being introduced as cousings in some of the Sailor Moon dubs. 😅
We had the pleasure of meeting Hudson Leick (Callisto) at a con a number of years ago. She's a hoot. And honestly anything with Bruce Campbell I'll watch.
I didn't see much of it the first time around (though some of my friends were big fans) but I've been watching it recently and it really is damn good. It's really hard to walk that line of self-awareness without slipping into self parody.
It manages to put one foot in Robert Howard and the other in Curly Howard and actually pull it off.
@Thad That's a good comparison, and honestly, all in all, watching it relatively recently it has aged impressively well, especially compared to other shows from the same TV era.
"Al fine di rendere più piacevole l’interazione con l’assistente IA di Google, TCL ha dotato la sua nuova smart TV di microfoni a lungo raggio, in modo da consentire agli utenti di conversare con Gemini comodamente dal divano."
El Coronel Aureliano Buendía fundía monedas de oro en pescaditos, un acto inútil pero feliz. Como la poesía, nacida de un gesto simple: fictograma.com/ver_cuento?id=1…
🇺🇸🇪🇺USA ukončí programy podpory v oblasti bezpečnosti pro evropské země hraničící s Ruskem v hodnotě stovek milionů dolarů, uvádí Financial Times s odvoláním na zdroje.
Země #EU jsou „šokovány“ rozhodnutím #USA zastavit programy bezpečnostní pomoci a snaží se objasnit podrobnosti, píše : 42tcen.com/publikace.
The video begins with a view from inside a vehicle, showing a silver car ahead on a road. The text in Russian at the top of the screen reads 'Чехия. Пытался скрыться от полиции, но поездь бы против' (Czech Republic. Tried to hide from the police, but went against the flow). The scene is set on a sunny day with clear blue skies, and the surroundings include buildings, street signs, and a roundabout. The vehicle from which the video is taken follows the silver car, navigating through the roundabout and onto a main road. The silver car continues ahead, and the video captures the movement of the vehicle, showing other cars and the urban environment, including a yellow building and greenery.
The video continues with the same perspective from inside the vehicle, maintaining the text 'Чехия. Пытался скрыться от полиции, но поездь бы против' (Czech Republic. Tried to hide from the police, but went against the flow) at the top of the screen. The vehicle follows the silver car, which is now turning onto a side street. The surroundings remain consistent with the previous scene, featuring buildings, trees, and a clear blue sky. The vehicle approaches a roundabout, with the silver car making a turn. The video captures the movement of the vehicle, showing other cars and the urban environment, including a yellow building and greenery. The video concludes with the vehicle continuing down the street, following the silver car.
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Today at Nullcon Berlin, a researcher disclosed a macOS vulnerability (CVE-2025-24204) that allowed attackers to read the memory of any process, even with
"#DHS is moving away from DeSantis's EVER Detn Camp & will be moving migrants with a criminal record (🚨can be as little as an arrest for a misdemeanor) to the🚨notorious max security LA St Pen, Angola -largest max sec prison in the US with a💔sinister & vicious history.
#ICE Barbie is dubbing it the “Louisiana Lockup,” 51 migrants: already detained in the fac." -N Glazer
🚨"The overwhelming maj of ppl in ICE #detention don't have a violent criminal record. ~40% of ppl sent detained by ICE in recent months has no criminal record.
By the end of the month,💔the single largest group of ppl in detention may be those with no record." -A R-Melnick
New data: #ICE has🚨🚨🚨diverted at least *25K officers* into its mass deportation efforts, incl ~14,498 fed LE officers. This is the lower-bound b/c many BP agents are independently engaged in int arrests. These#s rep staggering shrs of fed LE agts, being shifted from🚨criminal law enf to minor civil IMM offs.
The video depicts a high-speed pursuit of a black car on a highway in South Los Angeles, as part of a breaking news report. The text overlay in Russian reads "Уход от полиции, который танцует на 200 1Q," which translates to "Police evasion, who dances on 200 1Q." The pursuit is also highlighted in English as "BREAKING NEWS: PURSUIT OF GRAND THEFT AUTO SUSPECT" and "WITNESS NEWS." The footage shows the black car driving on the highway, with a white minivan and other vehicles visible in the background. The location is indicated as "S 5 (110) & EXIT 17A (GAGE AVE, SOUTH LOS ANGELES)" and later changes to "BOB FREWAY (110) & SOUTH FLOWER STREET, SOUTH LOS ANGELES," and finally to "MANCHESTER BOULEVARD & EXIT 8A SAN PEDRO, SOUTH LOS ANGELES." The video captures the black car maneuvering through traffic, with the pursuit continuing on a different section of the highway, including an intersection. The ABC7 logo is visible in the bottom right corner, indicating the source of the footage.
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Arizona GOP demands expulsion of Democrat who posted about ICE activity at a Phoenix school tucsonsentinel.com/local/repor… Arizona Republicans want to expel a Democratic state senator because she shared a post on social media about federal immigration officials arresting people outside of a South Phoenix elementary school. #Tucson #Arizona
O ditador da Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, afirmou nesta quarta-feira (3), durante a inauguração de um monumento em Caracas pelo 80º aniversário do fim da Segunda Guerra Mundial no Pacífico, que seu regime resistirá ao que chamou de “investida” dos Esta…
'Salt Typhoon' is a purported recently discovered multi-year persistent data exfiltration project by the PRC leveraging old vulnerabilities in telco networks spanning 80 countries, with the goal of isolating and tracking targets (but for the hey, while there why not grab everything).
Saw some post about migrating #authenticator apps... and I realised I never used Google app for example. Because when I started configuring #2FA, I already had #Yubikeys
So I naturally downloaded their Yubico Authenticator to use something I could use, without even thinking. And this was/is my first #OTP app I ever used. I tried FreeOTP or something similar when it was recommended for some work thing in previous job, but never had a chance to really "feel" that because I changed jobs shortly after. And now I thought for the first time that my only experience with OTP is when codes aren't device-locked... And for me it's absolutely natural state, as things should be.
The problem with #Yubikey OTP's is that it does not have enough space to store all 'secrets', so I am forced to continue using an OTP App alongside the Yubikey, until enough services migrate to #FIDO2
I have over 50 OTP's after removing the ones using FIDO2. Granted there are some duplicate accounts, which don't allow you to remove OTP, after activating FIDO2. I also rarely use any service that does not offer 2-FA/MFA.
#GenerationNT Fuite de données massive : les informations médicales et privées de 2 millions de Français dans la nature
> Des bases de données contenant les informations de près de deux millions de Français sont actuellement en vente ou en accès libre sur un forum du dark web. Les entreprises Alain Afflelou, Syma Mobile et même le Service National Universel (SNU) seraient concernés. Ces fuites exposent des données parfois très sensibles,
A todos los que lamentan no poder volar barato en avión; Haced turismo cercano y dejad de fastidiar el clima. Volar barato no es tan necesario como reducir la contaminación. ¿Creemos en el cambio climático y nos comportamos como negacionistas? Seamos responsables. mastodon.social/@LocurasLogica…
La subida de precios de Aena es ridícula. Son 67 céntimos más por cada pasajero. Es necesario subir mucho el uso de aeropuertos, porque ¡sorpresa! estamos en crisis climática!!!
Además, hay que cortar las subvenciones a todas las aerolíneas, en espec…
The video begins with a nighttime scene captured by a surveillance camera, showing a deserted street with a crosswalk and buildings on the sides. The text overlay reads, "A massive gas leak, initially mistaken for fog, resulted in a massive explosion." The street is illuminated by streetlights, and a sign in Korean is visible on the left side. The scene remains static until a bright light appears in the distance, growing in intensity and size, indicating an explosion. The light becomes more intense, filling the screen with a bright orange glow, and the camera shakes, suggesting a sudden movement or impact. The explosion's light and smoke obscure the view, and the camera captures the aftermath, showing a large fireball and thick smoke rising into the night sky. The video concludes with the fireball dominating the scene, with flames and smoke spreading across the street, and the surrounding area engulfed in the glow of the explosion.
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"How did so many people become dismissive and uncaring about rights, both human and those enshrined in the Constitution of this formerly great country?" writes an L.A. Times reader.
Oli
in reply to Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕ • • •Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕
in reply to Oli • • •Yamainu 🏳️🌈
in reply to Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕ • • •Hey Gus
in reply to Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕ • • •May Likes Toronto
in reply to Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕ • • •Pierot
in reply to Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕ • • •Stefan
in reply to Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕ • • •Curious Magpie
in reply to Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕ • • •It was a great show - my daughter and I watched together for years.
Favorite line: I guess I always knew but just didn’t dare admit. Yes, I’m a ... ... thespian!
tlariv
in reply to Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕ • • •Floaty Birb
in reply to Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕ • • •Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕
in reply to Floaty Birb • • •@floatybirb I explain it more in the linked blog post. In the episode 'Here She Comes ... Miss Amphipolis' the show features an on-screen kiss between Xena and Miss Artiphys who was played by the late Karen Dior who was HIV-positive and an AIDS activist, and sadly passed away a few years later.
It was done as a deliberate message of solidarity and a statement dispelling the myths on how HIV spreads, especially given the widespread fear and misinformation about AIDS of the 90s, and it was pretty groundbreaking at the time.
Noel Kelly
in reply to Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕ • • •50 years since Space 1999
30 years since Xena
*goes of to google 4 September 2015*
四
in reply to Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕ • • •Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕
in reply to 四 • • •Peruses
in reply to Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕ • • •Funny that, Xena definitely ticked some boxes that made me notice that I'm a straight dude with some fetishes, but I always wondered why I never saw the same level of speculation about the sexuality of Hercules, Sorbo always struck me as way prettier than a dude gets for the sake of women. (To bad Sorbo caught the brainworms)
I'm sure the level of heat in the fanfic is similar for both.
Toni Aittoniemi
in reply to Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕ • • •🇳🇿 Shayne Parkinson
in reply to Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕ • • •Denny
in reply to Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕ • • •Another Trump MAGA actor gets caught in a lie related to L.A. protests
Lauren Sforza | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com (nj)EevaXTiina
in reply to Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕ • • •Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕
in reply to Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕ • • •In regards to Xena making a statement against the stigma surrounding HIV: in the episode 'Here She Comes... Miss Amphipolis', Xena enters a beauty pageant undercover. There, she encounters Miss Artiphys, a character played by the late Karen Dior, an HIV-positive actor, singer, former adult performer, and drag queen (reports on Dior’s gender identity are contradictory, and probably also affected by '90s culture).
When Xena discovers that Miss Artiphys was an AMAB character who entered the competition presenting as a woman, the latter explains her actions with the line: "You really don’t get it, do you? I guess being born a woman you wouldn’t. This is a chance to use a part of me most people usually laugh at, or worse. A part I usually have to hide. Only here that part works for me, you see?" expecting Xena to force her to drop.
Instead, Xena encourages her to stay in the competition, never reveals her secret, never disrespects her, and in the end, she ends up being crowned winner. After her victory, Xena and Artiphys share a kiss. That was an intentional statement against the widespread misinformation surrounding AIDS and the transmission of HIV that reportedly Lucy Lawless insisted on being included.
It is near impossible to fully explain how *ridiculously* groundbreaking it was that this entire plot happened in the mid '90s.
#Xena #XenaWarriorPrincess #LGBTQIA #LGBTQ #TransRights #HIV #trans #Gender #TV
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Rocío Vega
in reply to Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕ • • •Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕
in reply to Rocío Vega • • •GabeMoralesVR
in reply to Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕ • • •Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕
in reply to GabeMoralesVR • • •GabeMoralesVR
in reply to Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕ • • •Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕
in reply to GabeMoralesVR • • •GabeMoralesVR
in reply to Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕ • • •To me, Kevin Sorbo's hercules was the epitome of "we have arnold schwartzenegger at home." When you watched Hercules, you felt like you were watching a crappy knock off of better known similar properties (like ignoring that Arnie literally played hercules himself, hercules the show was basically the 1960's batman compared to Conan the Barbarian's Batman 89).
Meanwhile Xena was pretty unlike anything before or even after. You watched just to see new stuff, your OP is a good example
Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕
in reply to GabeMoralesVR • • •GabeMoralesVR
in reply to Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕ • • •Blour Mahpa
in reply to Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕ • • •scy
in reply to Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕ • • •You know what? You convinced me.
*adds Xena to his watchlist*
Mondgesicht
in reply to scy • • •I watched this show as a kid with my mom, loved it. But I didn't get most of the subtext. I was kinda confused by the messaging about the relationship between Xena and Gabrielle. And this episode... My goodness.
Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕
in reply to Mondgesicht • • •Mondgesicht
in reply to Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕ • • •Very similar with Sailor Moon.
Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕
in reply to Mondgesicht • • •Wonderdog 🏳️🌈
in reply to Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕ • • •Miia Mustang
in reply to Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕ • • •T2R
in reply to Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕ • • •Thad
in reply to Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕ • • •I didn't see much of it the first time around (though some of my friends were big fans) but I've been watching it recently and it really is damn good. It's really hard to walk that line of self-awareness without slipping into self parody.
It manages to put one foot in Robert Howard and the other in Curly Howard and actually pull it off.
Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕
in reply to Thad • • •Adam Jacobs 🇺🇦
in reply to Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕ • • •Moriel 🏳️⚧️
in reply to Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕ • • •Michael Bishop ☕
in reply to Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕ • • •TeflonTrout he/him
in reply to Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕ • • •Ah yes, Teen Trout's continuing sexual awakening, furthering the journey that was launched by Vasquez and Ripley from Alien
Seeing Lucy Lawless sans top in the Spartacus series was a keystone moment