#and also having your only trans characters playing the long con has like. implications a bit | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

robininthelabyrinth · 3 years

Text

Fandom 5k letter:

MDZS (novel)

I would like NMJ centric fic - something where he's the center of attention and the focus of someone's affection, rather than a secondary character in someone else's story. I want him to be the hurt-and-then-comforted, I want him to someone's crazy obsession, I want him being put first over other people, etc. Stories in which another character has an emotional arc in which they realize how much NMJ means to them are also good.

In terms of genre, I really like darkfic, h/c, or plotty action/adventure (and more worldbuilding re: the Nie sect is always great!). Smut is OK if there's character development during, but no PWP. For romance, I prefer getting together, not established relationships, and enemies-to-lovers (or, well, enemies&lovers) over friend-eventually-becomes-a-lover.

Ships are flexible, but some optional specific prompts below:

NMJ/JGY (silver-tongued manipulator JGY, not sad misunderstood JGY please!)

yandere!JGY obsessing over NMJ because he gave him respect when he was nothing or because he’s just so damn moral and it fascinates amoral!JGY; scheming to get him back (whether via manipulation, an arranged marriage, kidnapping, whatever) or to trap him as his own (mind control could be fun!)

JGY finding out about a traumatic non-con or dub-con incident in NMJ's past (SLN post-qi deviation? WRH before/during the Nightless City captivity? JGS?) and/or seeing it happen, then going feral in his defense and/or providing him with comfort over it

if you want to do a modern AU, serial killer/assassin!JGY becoming fixated on righteous man NMJ

NMJ/WRH (generally prefer this to be noncon/dubcon and then a rescue h/c by someone else; if you want to write them romantically, please avoid completely whitewashing WRH - murderous bastard but not outright fascist tyrant is OK, but please no versions where he’s not a murderous bastard in some fashion)

WRH becoming creepily fixated on NMJ, whether pre-Sunshot (discussion conferences?) or during the campaign, and the fallout from that (wanting to make him his empress? wanting him to bear him children? etc.) – prefer this to be in the NC/DC/rescued by someone else vein

WRH sets up an arranged marriage to NMJ to get him out of the way but finds he likes him more than expected (or possibly one where WRH time travels?)

if you want to do a modern AU, mob boss!WRH obsessed with righteous man NMJ (genre shift AUs with this dynamic are also OK) – this one is OK to do as romantic between them if you want

NMJ/LXC: Would love alternate meeting, canon divergence, or genre-shift AU here; not so interested in friends from childhood with puppy crushes on each other that eventually get together. I want to see LXC doing some pining!

NMJ & Baxia: positive relationship only, please! NMJ loves his sentient or semi-sentient saber and she loves him. Other than that, go crazy – do they team up to fight his death by qi deviation? Does she cultivate to humanity? Are they weirdly co-dependent? All the worldbuilding!

NMJ/any male: go crazy! NMJ/WWX? NMJ/JC? NMJ/Wen Ning? NMJ/XXC? All good! In all cases, prefer NMJ as the pursued, not the pursuer :) no modern AUs unless they specifically fit into the type described above (i.e. if you want someone else as the mob boss/serial killer/etc. that's fine)

Wants/DNWs:

dark, creepy, dub con and non con are obvious yes, including temporary mind-alteration (hypnosis, mind control, common sense adjustment, age regression, aphrodisiacs, somnophilia, training to respond to stimuli, etc.), but no outright mind-break or permanent personality alteration (no leaving someone as a doll, no implications of long-term drug addiction, no bimboification, no permanent amnesia, etc.)

I'm very fond of AFAB!trans!NMJ but if you go this route please have him present as male and not angst over his gender assignment - being upset over forced feminization is OK, forced impreg/breeding kink is great, but no focus on gender dysphoria under normal non-extreme circumstances

ABO is fine as long as it's omega!NMJ, but no bitching/NMJ-was-once-an-alpha-but-changes-due-to-trauma

for fics involving outright non-con, please end with NMJ being rescued and getting comfort from someone else; dub-con fics can have bad end/ambiguous end (i.e. NMJ as WRH's empress, JGY's hypnotized pet, etc.)

DNW: no top!NMJ, no character death for NMJ including no implications he suffers his canon fate, no permanent physical alteration (amputation, piercings, tattoos, etc.), no voluntary infidelity, no watersports/scat/vomit/lactation/focus on body hair, no replacement pining (i.e. I want person X but I can't have them so I'll settle for you), no LXC/JGY or any ships with Wen Qing, no Christianity

no modern AUs other than those explicitly specified

no pure PWP

MDZS DONGHUA

The MDZS donghua is my absolute favorite form of MDZS (though I haven't seen the audio drama yet). I love the way that it's so much more high-fantasy and EXTRA - WWX controlling flocks of crows, using resentful energy to fly, summoning green ghost fire, ripping out Wen Zhliu's core with his bare hands..! The beautiful arrays, the magical tools (giant bells!), techniques (gravity-bending by Wen Ruohan!), literally everything Jiang Cheng does with Zidian...plus I love the small but significant canon divergences (like how NMJ is not captured by WRH but confronts him in open battle with LXC at his side).

In terms of genre, I really like darkfic, h/c, or plotty action/adventure (and more worldbuilding re: the Nie sect is always great! ESPECIALLY with the donghua: I want to see NMJ get some of the special high-fantasy powers like we see for LWJ or WWX). Smut is OK if there's character development during, but no PWP. For romance, I prefer getting together, not established relationships, and enemies-to-lovers (or, well, enemies&lovers) over friend-eventually-becomes-a-lover.

Ships are flexible, but some optional specific prompts below:

NMJ/JGY

AU for the donghua! NMJ was never captured in the Nightless City, there's no indication he ever worked for NMJ, as far as we see he just appears when he kills WRH and then became sworn brothers with NMJ and LXC; there's not even any indication (yet) that he killed NMJ. Different meeting point? Different interactions? Wonderful opportunity to go completely off canon

I'm extremely fond of yandere!JGY or JGY going feral in NMJ's defense for some reason

if you want to do a modern AU, serial killer/assassin!JGY becoming fixated on righteous man NMJ

WRH sets up an arranged marriage to NMJ to get him out of the way but finds he likes him more than expected (or possibly one where WRH time travels?)

if you want to do a modern AU, mob boss!WRH obsessed with righteous man NMJ (genre shift AUs with this dynamic are also OK) – this one is OK to do as romantic between them if you want

NMJ/LQR (based on the interaction in the archery contest in the donghua, where LQR is the only one NMJ listens to)

something playing on inherent weirdness of someone a generation younger than you being your equal, plus seeing them having to stand up against the whole world more or less on their own

one of the other sect leaders tries to scheme against NMJ, LQR tries to intervene to stop them, stuff goes out of hand

NMJ/any male: go crazy! NMJ/LXC? NMJ/WWX/LWJ? NMJ/JC? NMJ/Wen Ning? NMJ/XXC? All good! In all cases, prefer NMJ as the pursued, not the pursuer :) no modern AUs unless they specifically fit into the type described above (i.e. if you want someone else as the mob boss/serial killer/etc. that's fine)

Wants/DNWs:

ABO is fine as long as it's omega!NMJ, but no bitching/NMJ-was-once-an-alpha-but-changes-due-to-trauma

no modern AUs other than those explicitly specified

no pure PWP

UNTAMED

Oh, the Untamed, my favorite AU fanfic that they filmed into an 50 episode series. I consider this canon completely distinct from the novel or donghua canons, so feel free to lean in to the canon divergences. Yin Metal? Ghost puppets? Completely different age gaps and/or chronologies? Baxia’s – uh – DISTINCTIVE appearance? All good!

For the Untamed, I’m less interested in darkfic (thought it’s still OK!) and more interested in hurt/comfort. For romance, I prefer getting together, not established relationships, and enemies-to-lovers (or, well, enemies&lovers) over friend-eventually-becomes-a-lover. Smut is OK but not preferred.

NMJ/JGY:

if you want to do a modern AU, serial killer/assassin!JGY becoming fixated on righteous man NMJ

Wants/DNWs:

ABO is fine as long as it's omega!NMJ, but no bitching/NMJ-was-once-an-alpha-but-changes-due-to-trauma

for fics involving outright non-con, please end with NMJ being rescued and getting comfort from someone else; dub-con fics can have bad end/ambiguous end (i.e. NMJ JGY's hypnotized pet or puppet, etc.)

no modern AUs other than those explicitly specified

no pure PWP

BLACK BOOK

This movie is a delight - as long as Fouché's on screen, anyway, out-acting literally everyone else by miles (especially the terrible main leads). As someone who did their history major on the French Revolution, I'm deeply, deeply aware of how inaccurate this movie is - as someone who enjoys over-the-top villains and endless snark, I love it anyway.

Fouché (solo): The snark! The inability to take anything seriously even once! The blatant amorality! The ambiguous relationship and chemistry he has with literally anyone who is on screen with him! The willingness to side with anyone at least once, and then turn on them shortly thereafter! The surprising competence he has at everything he does - politics? investigations? flirting? lock-picking? He's your man. For now.

Requests: I'd love some canon-style shenanigans (investigating something? arresting people? having to team up with someone unusual? politics! ALL THE POLITICS!) or something plot-focused. Maybe even the glimpse of the future we get with Fouché establishing a relationship with Napoleon, or possibly an AU where Max really does become dictator (but keeps Fouché around)?

Feel free to draw from Fouché's actual history (son of a (suspected) privateer! former math or physics teacher! may or may not have flirted with Robespierre's sister pre-Revolution while hanging out with Robespierre in a pie shop! may or may not have literally stolen a wife out of a convent and stayed very happily and monogamously married until she died decades later, much to the confusion of everyone around him!), but please maintain his key features from the movie (super competent, shameless, more amoral than outright evil). Complete genre shift AUs are also fine - I'd love to see a world where they're all mages or, like, steampunk, or IN SPACE! - but I'd prefer the vibe stay like the movie, aka completely ahistorical villains win/mad demagoguery/intrigue. Lean into the (light-hearted) dystopia!

Fouché/"Max" or Fouché & "Max": The inherent fun in a relationship where both parties know that it'll end with one of them killing the other and both of them are trying their damn hardest to achieve it, but also being absolutely essential to one another right now so. you know. let's just not talk about that.

Also just the way that Fouché calls Robespierre Max despite how much he hates it, speaking to a History between them, and the sheer glorious villainy of Robespierre in this movie - I love that he has basically a silver tongue, an almost hypnotizing ability to convince people (mostly the mob) of what he wants no matter what the situation, no matter what they know...I'd love to see that played with, including as a total AU/fantasy (magic-user AU? literal hypnosis powers? is Max planning on becoming a god?)

Would love to see plot-focused or "forced to work together" stuff, with a lot of mockery (and a great deal of competence) on Fouché's part and being ridiculously badass on Max's. Would prefer that they genuinely like each other, even if it's not going to stop them from murdering each other. Even if Max really, really wishes he didn't. Also would love to see an AU where Max really does become dictator but keeps Fouché around.

DNW: narrative endorsed anti-Revolution views (royalist or even "good idea but they went too far in 93"), no unasked-for crossovers with the Scarlet Pimpernel or something (using characters from actual history are just fine!), no major character death, no retrospective angsting (i.e. no "alas if only I hadn't killed him"), no focus on torture, no infidelity (except as approved and endorsed by spouses), no permanent amnesia, no permanent disfiguration/amputation (yes including Max losing his tongue), no "I want other person but you'll do" substitution, nothing that mind breaks either of the characters' personalities

#everyone can just ignore this #fandom exchange letter #mdzs #mdzs donghua #untamed #black book #french revolution

30 notes · View notes

hamliet · 6 years

Note

Ok, I know you don't wanna talk abt M's gender anymore, so you are free to ignore this ask. I simply wanted to share a thought which is more than anything related to characters' parallelism and abstract themes rather than the real world issues. So M and K are parallels and just like K is asked by Hina in the beginning of TG "Which one are you?", M is asked the same thing by Torso in the beginning of :re. H meant which one btw ghoul and human and T which one btw female and male. In short cont.

I think that M, representing the need of Kaneki to reconcile opposites, the black and White, withing himself, has to overcome not only the division btw human and ghoul, but the division btw female and male his mind created (I think we can agree thatbeing him a female or a male the vision M has of both feminility and masculinity needs improvement and to become more fluid). That's why I don't particularly care what M chooses in the end (but I can totally understand why it is a sensitive topic) con

just as I don't care if K is considered a ghoul or a human. In the end it's not K's ghoulishness which defines K's personality exactly like it's not M's gender the most important issue surrounding his character. In the end M's gender is often used by the narrative as a red herring to obfuscate M's true lies. However, this is when it becomes Tricky: ghouls and half-ghouls don't exist, gender issues and trans people do, so to use them as metaphors can be triggering, in particular if this cont.

representation is extremely relatable on certain aspects. Some time ago I wrote you abt a character in HxH who is a metaphor for mental illness. Now, that character can be relatable, but she isn't meant to represent m.i. as it really is. She is clearly a metaphor and her condition doesn't exist in the real world because it is linked to her powers. I think this lets the author be freer on certain aspects and play with tropes more easily than what Ishida can with M. Happy New Year!

Hey! (Meta anon, is this you?)

I don't actually mind questions about this topic, to be clear--what I meant in my post yesterday (I apologize for the confusion, others have messaged me to say the same) was merely that I did not want hate in my inbox--hate for me, hate for Mutsuki, hate for Ishida, or hate for other fans for having different opinions. Otherwise you're welcome to discuss things.

I agree, the "which are you?" question is likely to make us deliberately compare them. It's also worth noting that this ties in with anima/animus (hehe, I'm a Jung fan) which involves integrating traditionally male and female traits within.

I agree also: so long as Mucchy is happy and stable, I don't care. But I get why it's a lot more sensitive of a topic because of the real world implications for Mutsuki which are absent in Kaneki, and it probably wasn’t the best decision in the context of the real world imo. But please don’t think I’m hating on Ishida: I love his work and am supremely grateful to him for writing TG.

Also, when you note that Mutsuki uses his gender issues to obfuscate the real issue: exactly. The issue in 155 wasn't really that Kaneki did not call Mutsuki out for having a female body. The issue was that he did not call Mutsuki out for washing blood off a shirt, and Mutsuki’s using his traditionally female body as a way to say violence, as he always has. It's the same thing narratively as when Kaneki assigns his ghoul side all his violence (like Mutsuki assigns his female side his violence) instead of considering that maybe, regardless of what you identify as, the violence is a part of you.

Like Kimi said to Nishiki (as messed up as her conversation was), even if Kaneki thinks of himself as a human, he did this horrible thing to Tokyo. Violence is violence. He’s a murderer, human or ghoul (or, realistically, both which need to be integrated).

Thank you for sharing your thoughts, and happy New Year!

#ask hamliet #meta by anon tbh #i'm scared to tag this #Anonymous

14 notes · View notes

sylvermyth · 7 years

Text

Things to do instead of A/B/O

(Buckle up my friends, this is going to be long, as I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about it)

Okay so if you've followed my blog for any amount of time, or if you know me a bit, you might know that one of my biggest NOPES when it comes to fanfic is the A/B/O trope. Now, I haven't read a ton of it, but I've given it a fair chance, have read enough to know the characteristic aspects of it, and decide it's not for me. But, I'm also aware that it...might be for a lot of people, and, okay I really hate to say this but it's problematic, and while I'm normally like, write the shit you want, you do you, conflict makes story great, etc...okay, yeah, you do you. That's fine. But I really feel like A/B/O is not only propagating dangerous, misogynistic heteronormative narratives, but is also kind of an easy, lazy writing device. Because I can see aspects of the trope that have potential! Which don't get explored! And I see aspects of the trope that are appealing, but have alternatives that would be much more interesting if approached differently.

So, here I am to offer some potential alternatives to A/B/O Things, based on some of the key elements of A/B/O.

Mpreg

Okay personally mpreg just really triggers my YIKES NOPE reaction. However, I can see the appeal of it. There are ways of going about it without relying on an A/B/O narrative.

One, you just want your characters to make a family together. That's sweet, cute, yeah, go for it! But...why not adopt? Really. Adopting is really beautiful, has potentially a lot of conflict in the adoption process itself, I mean, really. As many children as there are without parents, it's still probably more difficult to adopt than it is to just pop out a child on your own (not sure about the financial aspects, but having a baby is REALLY expensive, medically; I don't usually read fics involving kids but I would imagine that's another issue that probably doesn't get addressed in fic, but I digress). Anyway. The adoption process is just as meaningful, and potentially more so, for a couple to go through together, instead of pregnancy.

You want to see your character pregnant. Okay. So I suppose there's a few different aspects of this that are appealing.

You want your character to go through morning sickness, etc, all the physical bullshit of pregnancy so their partner can care for them. That can be accomplished just as well with illness, there are illnesses that can be long and drawn-out, it doesn't have to be a fatal illness, and fighting that illness can make for good conflict/resolution, etc.

You like the idea of procreation as it is. You can accomplish that with a gender swap. Don't be afraid to write the character the same, with only their sex different. Women can be as robust and diverse as men. You still want a same-sex relationship? They can both be gals. Just go for it!

You really want to see a male character pregnant, and this cannot be accomplished through the usual biological means. See the Gender/Secondary Gender section.

You want your character to be a “woman” without actually making them female. NO. Just don't. Stop. We have enough problems with women being a “fragile” or “weaker” or “inferior” sex as it is, and all the shitty gender roles that go with it. Unless the story arc is overcoming ingrained prejudice in that aspect (and even then it’s questionable), just...don't. There are better things to write.

Gender/Secondary Gender/Sex

This is...a really sensitive subject to deal with, imo. I think it's probably one of my biggest issues with A/B/O, because there's rampant misogynistic, heteronormative elements in many A/B/O fics. I don't know if ALL fics fall into this, but all of the ones I've read do, and it's a big turn-off for me.

Here’s a simplified rundown of my understanding of secondary sexes:

Alphas present as dominant, the caretaker/provider, are generally superior in things like sports, business, etc. They can lose control in the presence of an omega, to the point of potentially raping them. The “man/masculine” of the dynamic.

Betas are neutral, safe, I guess? Inferior in a way, because they're normal and don't have one of the extremes. (As an aside, I actually think that this “secondary sex” would be incredibly interesting to explore in the context of A/B/O, if it was done right, like, are they an in-between? Is it kind of like being agender or genderfluid? How do they cope with the other genders?)

Omegas present as submissive, needy, inferior, unable to control themselves during heat and therefore at a disadvantage in whatever activities they engage in (especially competitive sports), and also the ability to consent is essentially taken from them during their heats, due to biological need. The “female/feminine” of the dynamic.

Women are generally completely ignored??? I'm guilty in not always including ladies in my fics, I won't lie, but there has to be some dynamic created in this setting that involves women.

Okay. So. Overall, I don't think the idea of a secondary sex or gender is a bad idea, per se. I just really hate the gender-driven hierarchy that's raised by it (specifically that it’s heavily heteronormative), and it's really not that necessary when the same effect can be achieved with primary gender/sex. So here's a few things to consider.

Gender roles: just don't. Please, I'm so fucking sick of it. Relationships are a give-and-take, and different people have different strengths and weaknesses, that don't depend on their gender. Figuring out the balance is more interesting, anyway, rather than having it predescribed. Do that instead, please.

There are still many issues of gender in the world we live in as it is. You could explore those. For example, Yuri on Ice plays with this a little: most of our main characters have cultivated an image of androgyny or even femininity in their skating programs. However, keep in mind that androgyny etc has different roots and different meanings for different cultures.

If you want to explore gender identities, I would suggest treading very carefully, especially if you are a cis person (in fact as a general rule I wouldn't do it at all without heavy research, consulting people that are willing to share their experiences with their identity, etc). You might be tempted to, say, make your character a trans male so they can get pregnant. Personally, as someone who is cis, I feel very uncomfortable doing that, because it's not an issue I think I have the right to handle, and I highly suggest that such an issue be left to those who would identify with that situation (I'm not sure what language/vocab I should use to say this). Of course everyone will have a different situation, and it's not entirely impossible to have such a storyline, but really...cis people have no business using such a delicate matter as a writing device, just so they can make their character fit a particular kink, because let's be real, that's what it comes down to. There are other ways.

Not knowing one’s secondary gender/sex until after puberty: honestly, you don't even need to make it secondary, if people are genderless to begin with! For example, since we’re already writing an alternative biology AU, why not make it so that people are sexless at birth? Maybe they choose or develop a sex later on! I imagine this would make an incredibly interesting culture: is there pressure to choose one over the other? Are there still gender roles, or does the neutral beginning make it easier to do away with those? What other kind of identity issues arise with this, or is it not an issue at all? Is it possible to remain in a state of neutral gender indefinitely? How does procreation work? Fascinating, right?!

Again with the idea of an alternative biology, you could use fantasy creatures (see also: Heats/Ruts, Mating Cycles; Scenting and Marking). Maybe your character has the ability to choose to carry a child, regardless of their presented sex/gender, or maybe their sex/gender is in flux, changeable. There are probably different kinds of demons, too, with different abilities--and probably not all of them have these abilities! There's a wealth of cultural/societal implications in this, without having to resort to gendered roles.

Non-con/dubcon propagated by secondary gender (heats/ruts). I mean, ok, different strokes for different folks, but again, don't really need a secondary gender for that one. See also Heats/Ruts...

Heats/Ruts, Mating Cycles; Scenting and Marking

Perhaps one of the big elements of A/B/O, I think? Also actually something I dig quite a bit--up to a point. While I like the idea of being exceedingly desperate for sex in my smut, in A/B/O, it’s often taken to the extreme to the point that characters arguably lose the ability to say ‘no,’ and therefore the ability to consent. Sometimes this is addressed before the omega character has their heat, but not always, and sometimes even discussing it ahead of time, an alpha still loses control due to a reaction to pheromones and whatnot.

Marking/bonding with a mate is also, in itself, not a terrible thing (it can be romantic, actually!) but again there’s the non-con marking that’s sometimes used as a plot point to trap a character into a relationship. I guess that can work, but again, there are other ways to trap a character into a relationship, if that’s what you’re really going for. Financial issues, different forms of abuse, etc, without using biological restraints--even with these, you should be careful, or at least tag your fic appropriately.

Anyway, overall, not a bad element. However, these things don’t have to be limited to A/B/O! A few alternatives to consider:

Above I mentioned alternative biology, you don’t need A/B/O to have a character that has a mating cycle, does the scenting thing etc. Could be a fantasy/mythology creature, or hell, we could do aliens! Why not! You can also incorporate knotting in this, if you like.

Could be a fetish thing--you don’t really need different biology to get wrapped up in someone’s scent. A lot of that is in a person’s head, too, which can flesh out a narrative.

Yo dude, biting/marking is hot in regular fic, you don’t need to put it in A/B/O.

And so…

I make no claims that this is a comprehensive list of alternatives, or that I’m right, or that A/B/O is inherently wrong and you should never write it. I am a huge proponent of MAKING SHIT UP for fics, of writing what you want. But I also think that A/B/O is a bit of a cop-out on many fronts--or at least, it’s not reaching its potential, and ought to be handled differently, so please keep that in mind. And thanks for reading!

Feel free to add on to this, if you like! (Not that I have any say, thanks, tumblr.) Or, if you want to discuss it, that’s cool, too--just know that I will not entertain personal attacks or responses that blatantly ignore the suggestions I have put out (which, by the way, I put a lot of time and thought into!).

Cheers!

#anti omegaverse #anti a/b/o #i don't consider it anti but just to be safe #writing advice #that no one asked for #a/b/o trope

128 notes · View notes