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kitty-does-stuff · 2 years

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Utena AU Ideas For MLM Ships (Cuz I have ideas that aren’t just sticking to canon)

So this is a post of ideas of Utena au’s for mlm ships, this will honestly not be helpful if you just wanna draw a ship in one of the iconic poses of Utena but if you want to take your au and make a fic or multiple things art here are some ideas.

First let’s start with why I think you can’t just throw two guys into the roles of Utena & Anthy and be done with it, broken down by the character:

Utena: A big part of her story is her trying to stay out of female gender norms and having to deal with at every turn men that she duels trying to force her into a role she doesn’t want. It also deeply effects the ending & her relationship with Anthy that she’s a girl, at the end Anthy says that Utena could never be her prince as Utena is a girl and at the very end Utena admits she shouldn’t have tired to be Anthy’s prince (which isn’t her falling into gender roles, it’s more like her breaking away from all the roles within that world.)

Anthy: She is the rose bride, basically a role meant to fulfill every fairytale trope of what a female character has to be, passive, “weak”, and the love interest. And she is also a witch, aka a role meant to demonize a woman that can’t be a interest & is powerful. Simply put, guys don’t have these tropes assigned to them both in fiction and irl, they are expected to be “princes” which has it’s own issues to try to live up to but they are different issues than those woman face.

Making the roles these characters have be men takes away the rebel traits of Utena’s role and takes away the main point of Anthy’s role which is a deconstruction of the sexist roles female characters are often forced into.

So here are some ideas to take the basic setting & themes of Utena and make them work for a MLM ship, also ofc you can take these ideas and use them for WLW ships if you’d like, at the end of the day these are ideas to expend Utena au’s, so y’know have fun with ‘em.

The Rose Groom

Basically this idea is that there is a Rose Groom instead of a bride whom is meant to be the bodyguard and servant to whomever he is the groom to, sorta like the fate that Dio would’ve had if Anthy hadn’t tried to protect him of always putting another first. My idea for how the groom came to be was that perhaps he tried to enforce a woman saying no ending up becoming the one to take the swords of hateard. I’m unsure at this moment how the groom is passed around but I think the most fitting thing would for it to be some sort of social game instead of duels (those are more like what the groom has to do). The role of the Utena like person going to a dude who is better at social stuff than he is at fighting but he has to learn to perhaps be more protective.

Explore How Male Love For Another Male Is Demonized/The Demon

So within Utena itself we get the idea of a witch a girl who can never be a prince’s bride, but within this au I bring up the question of if there is a male equivalent which I’d say there is! It’s be a man with no interest in being a savoir, who has desire for a bride (perhaps though some for another man), who perhaps empowers others to do their own dirty work (which where the title Demon comes from, as demons in fiction often offer deals for power and are connected to witches)

As a whole the idea of this role would a duelist that gives up on wanting to play the part of a prince, or who’d rather be with one of the other duelists and tires to lead/tempt a would be prince away from that role.

I’d actually say that within Utena canon a (kinda) good example would be Souji Mikage who has others do his dirty work.

Also it’s up to you if you’d wanna include a rose bride within this, I would say that if you do that perhaps the dude that ends up in the role of a demon tires to hep her get away from being the rose bride.

Focus On The The Black Rose Duelists

It’s what it says on the tin, great way to explore a complex relationship.

Perhaps The Rose Bride Is A Closeted Trans Man

This sort of idea takes the idea of the rose bride which already is basically the forced female role and applies it to a type of dude who both in fiction and irl would be often forced into female roles, perhaps in this sort au a writer or artist could put more focus on playing with gender, gender roles and stuff like that.

#Utena #Utena au #mlm ships #ship idea #ship inspo #au inspo #au prompt #ship prompts #for the record don't take this too seriously I just wanted to offer some ideas after being tired of seeing the same thing over & over #but I don't have any hate for mlm au's that just do the simple thing or feel sticking close to canon is the more fitting thing #like au's are meant to be a fun thing and I'm not gonna hate or judge people for their harmless fun #just wanna share some prompts

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thelucyverse · 3 years

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So, about the representation of Joe/Nicky vs. Andy/Quynh in the Old Guard fandom

I know that some people have already made posts about this, don't remember them all, amongst others @inheritor-of-memories here (agree with all you said), but I thought I'd also give my input. In the TOG fandom, Kaysanova is definitely the most popular ship- both bc mlm tends to be more popular for several reasons that we won't get into too deeply here and because they're actually visibly a couple in the movie canon as opposed to comics only, and of course Quynh only has like two minutes of screen time (and it is a cute ship in general, I actually quite like Joe/Nicky too, Andy/Quynh is just my personal fav).

Now, being a more popular ship isn't a crime, even though it's frustrating for many wlws to see us so underrepresented. What's even more frustrating than that, however, is the treatment of Andy/Quynh in the stories written by the Kaysanova fanbase.

For example, Tusk mentioned in their post how in AUs where Joe or Nicky is caught in the iron coffin, the other man usually keeps searching until he finds him. Now, that alone is nothing bad- it's not very realistic to keep searching for hundreds of years, which is why the canon is different, but then fanfiction are often unrealistic fluff, and I don't begrudge the JoeNicky fandom that, the same way I'm not against AUs where Andy keeps looking for Quynh until she finds her. However, quite often the same people who write Kaysanova as the ones that keep looking don't do the same for Andromaquynh... And that's where it gets problematic.

Not just in the search for whoever is the drowning one in the story, but in the depiction of their relationship in general, the Kaysanova fandom often shows Andy and Quynh as a somehow lesser love than the love Joe and Nicky share- even though Andromaquynh have been together for literal millennia while Kaysanova have only known each other for centuries and did not have what one would call a meet-cute. Sure Andy has rough and angry moments in the film- but she also smiles and laughs when she is with her family, wouldn't that aspect of her become even stronger when she has Quynh back? Why do so many write them as a toxic relationship or something that is barely even there?

What's also really frustrating as an Andy/Quynh shipper is to go onto their tag on ao3 and get bombarded with Joe/Nicky fics where Andromache and Quynh are mentioned in maybe one chapter if at all- often it's just past!Andy/Quynh or they are mentioned to be together off-screen. Now, I could search for otp:true, but then I would miss out on the fics where there are several relationships while Andromaquynh are actually written about too, and with as little content as there is for the ship I don't want to miss out on that. So please, only tag a ship if it's really a story about said ship! You can add an 'other relationships' tag or 'background Andy/Quynh' as an additional tag if you want to warn people that they're in it too, but not as a relationship tag! If you're unsure whether your story should be tagged for the ship or not, maybe ask someone who actually ships it.

I know often things are done and written with only subconscious decisions taking place and I am not mad at anyone in particular, I just hope that any Kaysanova writers who see this try to make it easier for the Andromaquynh shippers in the future!

Tl,dr: please don't tag something as Andy/Quynh when they are only visible for half a paragraph or even not at all, and think about the way you depict them when you do write about them!

Tagging @thirst-teenth @bettylove @cryhardanddanceharder @badwolfkaily @andy-the-scythian @morallygreywaren @emotionallycompromisedrobots @justqueeerious @daniwouldnever because I think you might be interested in this! Lmk if I guessed wrong/ you want me to remove the tag, I left it under the readmore on purpose to keep you save from potential shitstorms.

And @inheritor-of-memories I know you already made a public post about the topic so I thought you wouldn't mind, but you too do let me know if you want me to remove the mention!

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cross-d-a · 3 years

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if you're doing those characters then please give me more amazing takes on princess mute 🥺💕

OMG IM SO LATE ANSWERING THIS BUT HERE I FINALLY AM

Also omgg thank you SOSOSO much for asking me about Princess Mute?? THE LOVE OF MY LIFE??? You know me so well, vish!! I love and adore you so much!! Thank you for giving me the chance to blabber on about the woman I love!! ⁽⁽٩(๑˃̶͈̀ ᗨ ˂̶͈́)۶⁾⁾

ALSO! I’m gonna do my best to like- not spoil all my plans for whispers, haha

The rest is under the cut bc I just have a lot of FEELINGS~ about our resident zombie girl

❤⃛ヾ(๑❛ ▿ ◠๑ )

How I feel about this character

OH BOY OK I JUST??? LOVE HER??? A LOT???? I wasn’t expecting to get quite so immediately and intensely attached to her?? But from the second I heard about her in the legend I was just gone. Completely done for. I’m generally a sucker for mythology, and there’s just SO MUCH that’s fascinating about the tale behind the Princess Mute and the South Sea King?

Even though Princess Mute is so central to the myth, the South Sea King is deemed as the most important? I mean- duh it is his tomb, but Princess Mute is the catalyst? None of this would have happened without her? She’s main character material and yet she isn’t the main character of her own story?? She has practically no agency? It’s so? Fucking? Fascinating?? And there is so fucking much left unanswered? The myth says she turns into a goddamn monster?? Is this- figuratively? Or literally? Is she a monster for breaking gender norms and committing the ultimate taboo by killing the Emperor??? Like- holy FUCK? Like- LOOK at this pic from Ershu’s Expensive Powerpoint:

and a close-up for good measure:

(note the HORNS/HELMET?? the LIGHTNING STRIKE!!! 👀👀👀 how she’s dressed as a SOLDIER?? that SPEAR??? also she’s depicted as much bigger than the emperor!! which, of course, means she’s more important!!!!)

and, HELLO!! She’s called the PRINCESS MUTE. She is only known/named in association to someone else. Her name has been erased from history. It isn’t important to anyone. Which is so fucking ironic. She’s Princess Mute. Her voice has been stripped from her, just like her agency. This tale is the Mute Emperor’s and not her own. Her suffering means nothing to anyone. Her life means nothing other than for the Emperor to desire and the South Sea King to mourn over (and WOW!! ISN’T THIS JUST!! SO perfectly encapsulating Nanpai Sanshu’s female characters and their relevance to the story/male characters)

(so what is her goddamn name???? I mean, I know what I’ve named her, but sorry dudes. Again. I don’t wanna spoil too much :) )

also, WHY is the South Sea King covering her eyes when she’s sent off to sea in the origami boat?

What actually happens to her after this? The body we see of the South Sea King has long white hair so I assume he died pretty old? So why does she look so goddamn young?

And- the million dollar question here (WHICH I HAVE A LOT OF HEADCANONS FOR BUT I DON’T WANNA SPOIL WHISPERS): What happened to her after she killed the Emperor????

ALSO!! WHY IS SHE HOLDING A DINGLAN RULER WHEN SANSHU FINDS HER IN THAT FIRST EXPEDITION?? (internet says it’s a “special ruler used for making shrines, carving wood statues and making tablets of gods. Later used in measurement of architectural scale; measuring instrument for the netherworld, wishes best for tomb owner) did she design her own father’s tomb?? is there more to her becoming a leather figurine than filial loyalty/sacrifice??

Why does she have a tattoo?? I go a bit into this in my fic, but from my understanding it was unusual for people (women especially!) to have tattoos during this time! (this is just from my research! if I am wrong please correct me!)

For anyone who hasn’t read whispers, there were a a few tribes (minorities!) during this time who tattooed themselves (and to this day, they continue this tradition :) ). The Li were often attacked by invaders who assaulted the women and sold them as slaves. The women ended up tattooing their faces and bodies to make them less appealing, and it ended up becoming a tradition. When a girl came of age she’d get tattooed. Then we’ve got the Dai, who (from what I understand!) got tattoos of animals with characteristics they wished to embody, such as to show their virility and strength! So they’d tattoo tigers and dragons, etc.

So why does Princess Mute have one? Who gave it to her? WHAT ACTUALLY IS IT!!!!!! (eternal frustration that we never see a clear shot of the whole thing!!) It kinda looks like a heavily stylized fish? With some waves. But I am unsure! But it would make sense, considering the ongoing theme of snakes and fish throughout dmbj.

Also, her scars seem very strange. Like- if someone skinned her (YIKES!) then- her scars don’t really seem like they’re a result of skinning (double yikes!!). You’d think that for a woman who was the daughter of the King, they’d take more care to preserve her face?? So why does it seem like someone has done their utter best to ruin it? Did the Emperor do it himself? Did her father? Or did someone else do it?? Did she do it herself????

Also, I just wanna cut the bullshit with the creepy hand clam thing. A hand clam isn’t gonna wrap their fingers around Wu Xie’s hand to stop him from blowing himself up. Like. I get that it’s the censorship. I get it. But- you can’t tell me it wasn’t actually the Princess Mute who saved him. I just?? This moment is so powerful? It literally knocked the breath from my chest.

Princess Mute’s story is just so fascinating and tragic and I am just a mess over how she isn’t in control of her own story? She never is. Except for when she kills the Emperor. (AND when she saves Wu Xie) And I think that’s fucking telling.

Of course, it felt like they had more of a storyline planned for her which never happened, but I’ll get more into that later.

Basically, I just have SO MANY QUESTIONS!!!

It’s like- I dunno. Seeing a gorgeous woman flip an obnoxious man over her shoulder and slam him to the ground without breaking a sweat and watching her walk away with stars in your eyes. You barely know anything about her but you’re already half in love and you just want to know more.

I’m super Gay for her, if you couldn’t already tell.

Honestly, she just perfectly represents all the female characters and their treatment in dmbj with all the extra PIZAZZ of the mysterious supernatural/mythological elements. She just makes me go feral and I adore her with my entire heart.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

NUMBER ONE I SHIP HER WITH MY CUTE AND PERFECT GF XIAO BAI!!!!!!!!

They are my two favourite (okay and my wife Su Nan!) female characters in dmbj. I think their stories parallel each other pretty beautifully? They’re both women in a powerful position, though with limited agency. They both defy gender norms and accomplish things (I’m counting killing the Emperor as Accomplishing Something) in a very male-dominated world. And- okay. I know the Princess Mute is technically dead. But she also?? is someone still doing stuff?? and pushing along the storyline?? as a zombie?? So I’m just gonna say that both of them aren’t truly killed off for the Man Pain like all the other female dmbj characters (except for Xiu Xiu, and I guess Chuchu but ChuChu’s situation is kinda....Iffy. At best.)

Also both of them are linked pretty heavily with Wu Xie? They both have an interesting relationship with him. And Princess Mute leads Wu Xie to Xiao Bai!!!

And okay this is spoiling a bit of whispers, BUT!!! Warehouse 11 was built atop the South Sea King’s temple. Isn’t that fucking important??? I stand by my headcanon that Xiao Bai is a Warehouse kid (descended from the Founders) and so she grew up there. And like- ignoring censorship bc I can AND because Reboot leaves a lot of supernatural stuff up in the air anyway- wouldn’t growing up atop an insanely powerful temple do something to you? Wouldn’t it affect you in some way?? There’s just!!! SO much potential between Princess Mute and Xiao Bai!! Plus!! I think it’d be great for Xiao Bai to form a relationship with another woman. She needs some female solidarity in her life.

And- well. I just ship Princess Mute with all the dmbj women, really. Princess Mute has two hands, why can she use them both?? I’ve got a couple Princess Mute modern au’s going and in one of them she just- sweeps A’Ning and Su Nan off their feet :)

I really can’t ship Princess Mute with any male characters, I think. There’s just- so much underlying trauma surrounding her agency and how she’s been used by the men in her life. Also, I like wlw & mlm solidarity. Let Princess Mute and Wu Xie wallow over their Stupid Crushes. Or Princess Mute & Xiao Ge. I’m not picky.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Purely bc of my own au, I am very much invested in Princess Mute & Li Cu (& spirit snake). As I mentioned before, there’s a running theme of loss of agency in their own lives and suffering the consequences of others’ actions. Plus, there’s a lot of supernatural happenings surrounding the both of them. Why wouldn’t they find a connection?

And, obviously, I adore Princess Mute & Wu Xie. Princess Mute saved Wu Xie and then Wu Xie was promptly obsessed (can’t say I blame him). They had such an interesting relationship in Reboot that was just- so fucking tragically dropped.

My unpopular opinion about this character

SHE SHOULD BE MORE POPULAR!!!!!!!!!! She is so goddamn fascinating and gorgeous and I just!! Want!! Everyone to adore her as much as I do!!!!!!!! At least I feel a bit accomplished for swinging some readers over to her side in whispers!! That’s something!!!

I’ve got like- a million au ideas with her. I’m going to be the creator of the content I wish to read!!!!!

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

I WISH SHE COULD HAVE GOTTEN A SATISFACTORILY COMPLETED STORYLINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She just gets completely dropped after she leads Wu Xie to Warehouse 11. So once more, she is a plot device and not. And actual. Person. Her importance is tied irrevocably to the male leads. Her agency is not her own. Wu Xie cares so much about her, and okay, he’s trying to figure out a mystery and we all know how he gets when he’s trying to puzzle out a mystery-- but you can’t tell me he just- stops caring after he encounters Warehouse 11??? What happens to her after that?? Does she rot away in a box in Wushanju?? Does Ershu take her back?? I’m just?? WHAT????

I want to know her side of the story and not what everyone else has said. I want her to actually properly communicate with Wu Xie. I want her saving the day again and I want her being fucking badass and I want her and Xiao Ge being soft together and I want her and Xiao Bai to bond fall in love and I want everyone to just- fall in love with her? And care about her? And I want to to find herself caring about these fucking idiots too???? Can you imagine her and Liu Sang bonding over shitty fathers and lack of agency and Trauma?? Can you imagine Princess Mute getting her life back and the freckles returning to her slowly darkening skin and her being silly with Hei-ye bc he keeps shoving increasingly ridiculous sunglasses at her. And can you imagine her trying on jeans for the first time and picking out a cute bomber jacket and shoving a baseball cap on her head and dipping her feet back in the sea and befriending shibie bc she’s just?? that?? cool?? while Iron Triangle is off on the side fretting like she isn’t befriending some very dangerous creatures but it’s okay bc she’s a dangerous creature too and she understands fear and desire and hunger.

I want her returning to Thunder City. I want her getting closure. I want her story to get closure. Period.

And I know it didn’t happen bc censorship and Nanpai Sanshu and just- a host of Other Things. But I want it, and she deserves it.

AAAHH VISH!!!! Thank you so much for letting me yell about Princess Mute!! Sorry I couldn’t go more in depth with headcanons but!! Like I said, I don’t want to completely spoil you for whispers, so I’ll keep those close to my chest for now

٩(*ゝڡゝ๑)۶♥

#dmbj #the lost tomb reboot #princess mute #dmbj meta #sorta??#tltr #Wu xie #Xiao bai #cross talks #reunion: the sound of the providence #bai haotian #ask game

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takaraphoenix · 4 years

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HELLO SWEETHEART! (^_^) For the fanfiction ask game, can you answer 2,9,12,17,45, and 51??? 💜💝

Aw, babe, thanks for playing! ^o^ <3

2. What is your latest fandom?

Huuuh good question. When was the last time a show dragged me into its fandom... I really do think that’d be Arrowverse’s Kanvers. Kate and Kara really had me highly excited and hooked and dragged me into writing, reading and engaging with fanart and posts and GIFs about them and while it’s gotten a tiny bit dormant - as things usually do when a show goes into break - it’s still there.

9. What are the best things about your current fandom?

Well, if we do go by that definition of current as in “not that long-term thing you been obsessing over for years, shut up about that for a second and talk about the shiny, new and current thing”, I’d say that would then be effectively the Supergirl/Arrowverse fandom.

My favorite thing right now about that is my Supergirl Discord server with delightful, wonderful people on it to talk about all the things? I haven’t been involved in a fandom in this way in too many years, to actually talk about the thing itself, outside of fanfiction, with a group of people. It’s a lot of fun.

I also love how wlw heavy the fandom is - both in fans and in content because sooo many good wlw ships! Where other fandoms usually have the wlw as like... a sidenote. And I mean both in canon and in fanon here.

I actually have multiple wlw ships to enjoy in the screen in the Arrowverse and there is shiny art and fics about them in the fandom.

12. Who is your current OT3?

Current... mmmh... well, I’d say my most current OT3 would then be Cat/Kate/Kara I suppose. I put one of those onto my list for Writer’s Month and I am very excited to explore it.

Though I also put Nyssa/Felicity/Oliver on it and that is also something I am heavily obsessed with currently but due to the nature of not technically being a whole OT3 - what with Nyssa being a lesbian and her and Oliver not being a thing and this being more of a “Felicity has two hands” situation - I’m unsure if I’d count it for this.

17. Who was your first OTP and are they still your favourite?

The first OTP. That would be Seiya/Usagi from Sailor Moon, that was like “wow this is such a beautiful romance I love them!” (and then canon broke my heart, naturally). And... considering I am following an incredibly gifted and talented artist for this ship specifically still (go check out @marmaladica, truly the art is sooo beautiful), I’d say my love for them never wavered.

45. What is your all time favourite fanfic?

I don’t... have one. I have a very bad memory. I used to have that but by now it’s just been way too long since I even last looked back at it so I wouldn’t even know - also the story was abandoned many years ago, which broke my heart back then. That was Detective Conan.

I also had this monster Glee fic that I loved over the moon and worshipped.

But... all time favorite implies “still going strong” and I don’t really have one of those, I mostly moved on from these fandoms.

51. Rant or Gush about one thing you love or hate in the world of fanfiction! Go!

I wish it’d not be as taken for granted. I also wish more reviewers were - braver. So often I read really cute comments that then end on “I’ll shut up now sorry for the rant” like no please continue on with this rant I love being ranted at about what you enjoy about my fic?

I feel like for many readers the perception on us authors is wrong. Like, someone will comment on a years old fic with “I know this is old but I wanted to say I loved it” like - sure I posted it years ago but I still love to hear that it is still bringing joy to someone and I have a hard time imagining any author would scoff and go “urgh comments on the old stuff, who cares”.

Being told that a fic is appreciated and more so being told what about the fic is being appreciated are so great and would go a long way in making fandom creators feel more appreciated.

Because that is a current problem and not just for fic writers, GIF makers and artists too. Many fandoms just... consume and give back too little appreciation and it’s a shame, because that appreciation is vastly motivating for any creator.

Fanfiction Questions

#Fanfiction #Sailor Moon #Arrowverse #Fanfiction Questions #send me asks #kunfyouzed

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