#i know some people don't like em

[quinloki]

Canon Characters vs OC vs x Reader

Disclaimer: This is just my two cents, and my perspective on things, and I'm not trying to lay down the law for everyone. I needed to just put this to words though, in order to sleep.

I was thinking about this because of a post I saw, and some, we'll say, kind of useless comments associated with the post. Mean-spirited stuff.

Normally, in one ear and out the other, but the vibes just kicked me off down a rabbit hole of sorts an I wanted to try to put some of my thoughts to words.

First, some style vibes:

Canon x Canon Canon/Canon stories are, to me, like reading an episode of that show. I'm sitting down in front of a TV or whatever, and I'm experiencing the story As A Viewer. I like this style because I don't really have to expend much energy and I just kind of roll with whatever's happening. Generally some sort of 3rd person perspective.

OC x canon OC/Canon stories are like being on a carnival ride. I'm sitting in a car on a roller-coaster, and maybe the OC is sitting next me. I'm experiencing the story more deeply than strictly canon stories, but my connection with the OC is no deeper than say, my connection with Katniss Everdeen when I read The Hunger Games. Sometimes 3rd person, sometimes first person.

Reader x canon Reader/Canon (or Reader x/ OC) is like putting on a VR helmet. I don't get much physical input about the "Reader OC" because I'm experiencing the story through their eyes. I don't expect the reader to be me, but there's a bigger feeling of immersion to be had. Some description might happen cause it's relevant to the story, and it's still a type of ride, I can't jump the rails on the roller coaster, after all. (Even with a VN you still follow the tracks). Sometimes first person, sometimes second person (I'm partial to 2nd person perspective, but that's just me).

I love Fan Fiction, I love it. All of it, and man even more than anything, what I love is that I'm going to dislike 80% of it. Because that 80% was written for someone who is not me. (Hell, that number's probably closer to 99% if we're looking at ALL fandoms, but I digress).

Second - The VENT:

What got me the most in the post that prompted this, was someone saying "Bring back the Mary Sue OCs!" and then they went on to describe something more detailed, and I just -

Look, respectfully, fuck you.

The point is, you're not going to be happy no matter what. Whether it's "mary sue" OCs, or x readers, or alternative universes, or a ship you don't like, you're going to find something to be unhappy about.

Cause people have been bitching about all styles of fan fiction since the first "You've Got Mail" chimed in 1991. And until 1998 and ff.net you really had to hunt for it, and until 2007 and Ao3 the idea of tagging a fic for any reason wasn't really a thing. Every click was a surprise! \o/

I just have seen the same song and dance a dozen times. It's exhausting. People become okay with OCs and decide x readers are the enemy, and before that OCs were *all* Mary Sues and cringe and people who made OCs were the enemy, and before OCs people who wrote even a little OOC were the enemy, and people who wrote AUs were the enemy, and you can write fan fic but it HAS to be Canon Compliant, and everyone MUST be in-character at all times - "They would not fucking say that" was the enemy.

Look, just please - please - in any capacity, stop it with the "All X style of story telling is crap" mindset. There's over a dozen different ways to do x readers alone. I know 20 x reader writers and I don't think any of us have the same style, preferences, or vibes.

I've had a lot of comments along the lines of "I thought I hated x readers, but I really loved this." on a few different fics I've written. Sometimes it's not the style of the fic, sometimes it's the style of the writer, and my Brother In Christ - you're going to have to read some awful shit to shuffle through the thousands of writers out there to find the vibes that resonate with you.

Ostracizing entire swathes of fan fic because you need something to be "The Enemy" so you can lift up something else, and then bitching you can't find anything new to read seems like a personal problem.

And I know y'all are scrolling by TONS of posts that don't interest you, every day, as a matter of course. So don't give me that "clogging up the tag" BS, because we deserve to be here same as anyone else in the fandom.

#quin grumbles #I'm so aggravated I don't even really know how to tag this #like almost 30 years of it I'm just so done #I just wonder what amazing stories we're not getting #cause of some fucker using Mary Sue to belittle someone #or someone beating someone else over the head with plot armor because their protag survived something terrible? #How many “Oh.” moments have been missed because someone criticized the very concept of reader insert? #I'm way past my usual bedtime so I'm just rambling at this point #and I am being meaner than I'd like #but JFC #I'm not going to let people's bullshit opinions stop me or anyone else from writing if I can avoid it. #Write what you want #gush about it #talk about it #TELL ME ABOUT IT #IDGAF if it's cringe or overpowered or broken or flawless or an OC or a reader with a name or WHATEVER #If it brings you joy #then do it #and if people are too mean to scroll by it when it's not their thing #and then complain like they're entitled to do so #block 'em. #and tell me who they are so I can block them too #then write more #cause I promise it'll bring someone else joy too

[chiropteracupola]

Bodies in my wake / Noose 'round my neck / I'm comin' back again / Better make it quick!

#em draws stuff #frankenstein chronicles is a show you can watch #frankenstein chronicles #john marlott #tagging with the real title as well If anyone is looking in the tag for this show #(I really don't think anyone is but if you are then Hi! sure was a television show there huh!) #best viewed with high screen brightness (I spent three hours coloring and I would like you to be looking) #it has been a while since I returned to this old-favorite topic (stitched-up undead fellows) and I had enough visual inspiration #from the show itself (the blake engravings! the teal lighting in ep6!) to really have fun with the rendering on this one #continuity caveat to the 1.5 people who care - I Know that marlott no longer has the chancre on his hand by the time he's all stitchy #but this show does enough with his unreliable perception of the world around him that I felt that I couldn't leave it out #oh and also that's the elemental symbol for mercury! as it seemed only apt to include it in some way #caption lyrics from american murder song since it seemed only appropriate #(also I listened to all of murder ballads of 1816 while coloring this For The Vibes) #ANYWAY now that I have Drawn Picture I might watch s2 now and find out what happens to this v sad wet man next!

[dauntingdeclan]

CGY vs PHI 1.6.24

beezer dropping gloves after lindholm's hit on york

#joel farabee #sorry this is like 3 months late it recently came to my attention that some people don't regularly think about bee's fight w the flames #ten minutes in the box but on my mind Always #in defense of the general public (em) this happened three days before the jamie drysdale trade and also i think it was only broadcast on nb #but the people need to know

[craycraybluejay]

How many great artists and scientists and iventors dyou think died in slave plantations, concentration camps, and meaningless bullshit wars and genocides?

#i think about it every now and then and feel like crying #you know? #someone who died to the cruelty of humanity could have cured cancer #and their lives matter either way but #it causes me anxiety to think that even with whatever value I have it can only mean so much #people are irrational and cruel. i could invent fucking time travel and in some spaces it simply would not matter #how do you play at stocks and mind games with someone who does not Think in that way #a smart play for power or play for anything else is only useful so long as other involved parties arent insane or stupid #how frustrating is that? #irresponsible stupid people in power make my blood boil more than just the power itself #you cant even concede to someone like that either bc they wont understand compromise or surrender #but also its like telling a bully you'll tell his mom that his dad cheated #but the bully is stupid and beats you up anyway and now you both lose because youre definitely going to tell now #you could have come out both winners if he understood your leverage and backed off #but now youre both losers cause you are still all bruised and bloody and he gets to deal with his parents messy divorce #don't negotiate with stupid people. recognize when they arent understanding and just try something else like running #dont fret sometimes an appeal to emotion will kick em into gear #'ill tell your mom' vs 'your mom will be so devastated and sad when she finds out :(' #obv dont do that unless someones abusing their power over you/hurting you in a situation you cant just run from #because the best solution if possible is almost always run. leave. get away. #but if you have to fight you want to get at any angle you can #you want to corner the other person so they go from being offense to defense #and if youre just digging/prepping for a bigger thing you want to get them frazzled enough to make a mistake #again. this is for self defense especially in long term abusive/toxic situations #people who abuse using their power usually have ego problems. sometimes you can take a gamble and go for the ego #they do this to you. do it BACK. #and preferably have a weapon on hand if they are liable to violence and unpredictability #better to look for a lawyer than check on the status of your life and health insurances #it is never too late to fight back. some people will tell you helplines but they have not helped me or anyone i know #so i'm telling you how to fight back and protect yourself by any means necessary

[brainworms-all-night-long]

Tags from my previous post via @000marie198 (I made this a separate post so I can link it to the fic in case someone else would want additional context but it got way too long for me to just slap it at the begining of the fic itself👍)

Alright so, the spark notes version of the stuff one needs to know exept it's not sparknotes at all because I cannot be normal about this guy rn:

Nightmare!Sans is an Undertale AU thing specifically from an AU called Dreamtale created by @/jokublog (go read the Drematale comic go read it RIGHT NOW, it has epik sun and moon brothers angst– no pressure tho :D) that 13-14 year old me was absolutely insane over. For the purposes of this fic all you need to know is that he's an evil bastard bitch that psychologically tortures people for fun but rarely actually kills cuz dead people can't suffer anymore and that's no fun for him.

More seriously he's the embodiment of negativity, grows stronger from negative emotions and his mere presence amplifies them. His name is pretty self-explanatory, but Im not sure if he can directly influence what's exactly going on or if it's just his bad vibes that cause people to have nightmares, but this is my au and I get to do whatever I want. He's also a shapeshifter made of toxic sludge that burns if you touch it for too long. Oh, and the only one that even has a chance at fighting or fending him off is his twin brother Dream who is the guardian of positivity (which is as good as poison to Nightmare and the only thing that causes damage to him I forgor to mention!!) is not at all present in Sonic's world at the moment :)

#running from a nightmare #Idk a lot of additional stuff about him and Dream are accumulated fandom knowledge over the years #I'm sure I don't know a bunch of stuff too #and a lot of the facts also got obstructed with poorly mischaracterizing and infantalizing #yet unfortunately really popular fannon #and I don't even know which blog or post even begin hunting down to check for em!! #also uh #maybe like watch out #in a case the stars align perfectly and you mayhaps decide to check out pictures of him cuz #people can get really weird about him like super werid #aside from that there's really frequent body horror and gore #cuz the poor child he possesed went through some shit before dying brutally #IM RAMBLING #damn it this mf just gets me going insane fr fr #anyway

[antiloquist]

Playing Lethal Company with randos when you're 20+

#lethal company #lethal company memes #i feel like i'm babysitting half the time #i know they're just kids and want to have fun tho so i'm still nice #i don't engage on like a personal level i just give gentle direction #like 'hey i think i saw some scrap at the entrance; can you please go back and check for me to be sure?' #or like 'be careful buddy i saw everyone else get got by a turret - let me know if you want me to teleport you back' #'let me do quota math for you guys - can you please grab the walkies from the dropship?' #i'm happy to be the mission control back at the ship because i know they have the most fun out there- #-when they're grabbing stuff and smacking monsters #(also i'm a coward and dogshit at combat so i play to my strengths) #and i'll happily answer questions bc my autistic ass loves to teach people new things #and wouldn't you know it? a lot of would-be trolls calm down when you're calm and nice #kill em with kindness as they say #yes i am a tag rambler here but i like to talk

[thaliagrayce]

i've been talking abt my voltron playlists and @iveofficiallygonemad asked to hear them and i want to share with anybody who wants!! i know they're not perfect, i'm working on them & trying to make them better. if you have any recommendations for any of them, let me know!! there's like A Lot and i want to give a lil explanation for most of them, so i'm putting them under the cut ^-^

SO first i have my favorite one <3 it's just. all of them. it's the whole team. it's a mess and it's a bunch of different genres because it's them fighting over the aux cord on a road trip. it's them trying to make each other laugh or annoy each other or play something catchy enough it will infect everyone in the vicinity with brain worms.

Hunk: i'm pretty happy with my Hunk playlist! chill vibes. he strikes me as the kind of guy who listens to calm music to try to find his own calm, and that's what i got here :)

Pidge: this is messier and less cohesive than my usual playlist because frankly i think pidge would have a shit taste in music. all over the board. this is a mix of meme songs and 8-bit covers and vocaloid and stuff that i think pidge would genuinely connect with, and i think pidge listens to all their music on shuffle without any regards for genre or mood because they're a gremlin. nobody gives pidge sole control of the aux.

Coran hears 80's music for the first time and loses his mind. He thinks ABBA is humanity's single greatest achievement.

Lance: i have ideas about where I'm going with this but haven't really settled yet. Lance seems like the kind of boy that loves to dance (is that canon? i forgot) so most of these are Bops That Make You Move in some way or another. he likes to present an upbeat face to the world, so there's no angsting in this playlist! we are clinging to the things that make us happy with both hands until our knuckles turn white!

Keith: i'm gonna be honest. i made him a playlist but i honestly don't think he cares about music very much. it's very important to some people! he's just not one of them! i haven't cracked this playlist open in a while but i'm pretty sure it's full of songs that i think he would conceivably train/work out to.

Shiro: this playlist involves the dumbest headcanon i have for shiro that has just not left me alone since i first thought of it. most of the playlist reflects the fact that he had an emo phase in middle school (that one isn't a headcanon, you just have to look at him to know) but BUT there are a few songs on here that are on here because. little known fact. he also went through a Twilight phase that he told nobody about. (keith knows. keith was there.) he has the entire twilight soundtrack memorized. he moved past the story but the music stays forever. he used to daydream about slow dancing to Flightless Bird, American Mouth. the first time Coran mentions that they have to avoid a place because there's a supermassive black hole there, he has to bite his tongue in order to keep a straight face. do NOT ask me why i believe this so wholeheartedly.

Allura's playlist sucks right now. I think it's because in my heart of hearts i know that, were she on earth today, she would go fucking nuts for taylor swift. i have ambivalent feelings for taylor swift. i cannot do allura justice like this. if you see my vision and have recs as to what might actually fit her, PLEASE.

Klance: i haven't done it yet but i'm gonna go through this and sort it to be a sort of progression of their relationship, starting with the more combative Rivalry songs, then slipping into "oh shit oh shit" songs, then maybe ending on the more lighthearted purely romantic songs <3

(i have two songs in a shallura playlist which does not at all encapsulate how much i'm obsessed with them. the tiny cop inside my head is just constantly screaming at me that i'm going to get yelled at for liking shallura. i am going to kill the cop inside my head.)

#mj talks #oooooh i don't know if i actually want to put this in the show tag. that's a lot of people. that's a lot of people that might see this. #fuck it we ball #voltron #anyway. as i said if you like music and you have songs that you think fit please send em over #also who wants to talk about shallura? i want to talk about shallura. #i rewatched the first ~3 seasons (the best part of the show and some of season 3) with my roommate a while back and. #ngl if we're strictly talking about the show itself and not fanworks. i care about shallura SO much more than i care about klance. #oh i should probably tag #klance #in case anyone has that blacklisted and just doesn't wanna see it #BACK TO MY POINT. #rewatch seasons 1 and 2 and you will see there was a REASON everyone included shallura in the background of their fics #and it wasn't just shoving 'space mom' and 'space dad' together #there is a very real and very compelling dynamic there. the mutual respect. the connection that comes with taking responsibility. #watch shiro's whole deal after allura gets herself captured so that he can go free and try telling me it's all in my head. just TRY. #anyway i have a lot of complicated thoughts about shiro's sexuality and most of them boil down to I Don't Think It Was Planned #i think they shoved it in last minute because somebody higher up #(not the writers i don't blame u writers i know that you have people breathing down your necks telling you what you can and can't do) #some higherup didn't like any queer storylines that might have been in the works and pulled them from the show #but then there was fan backlash because... gay people are loud now? people wanted A Queer In Space? wild thought #so they had to save their ass and actually deliver on what they had promised in interviews/on the internet/idk i didn't keep up too much #because it was so clumsily revealed! there was no buildup! #it felt very shoehorned to me unfortunately. when a) they had already built a solid and compelling potential relationship for shiro #(see above) #and b) klance was? right there? like. dude. you /had/ to have seen that. or at least some of it???? #backstory dead fiance was not the best move vis a vis queer representation and i reject him #if you want me to care about a relationship try going back to storytelling basics and Show Don't Tell :) #not giving you brownie points for that 'queer representation' :) #anyway. that's my shallura manifesto in the notes.

[em-dashes]

now that suddence is out to betas i'm oscillating between getting more and more self conscious and overthinking about everything that might be wrong with the story vs. knowing that is literally THE POINT of betas and i can't in good conscience let my story slide out into the world with a bunch of faults i didn't catch simply because i was too close to it

#em dashes #DON'T GO EASY ON ME I NEED TO KNOW EVERYTHING #i just need all my betas to know that I KNOW my story isn't perfect in its current state and that's exactly why it's out for critiques #i think there's always some part of you that wishes the critiques will come back squeaky clean. no notes! absolute perfection! #bc then you'd feel proud! you'd feel like you know what you're doing! like you're a PRO!! #however i gotta remind myself that not even professional writers can crank out perfect stories right away #they all have editors and peer critiques to help them #and i have to be careful about equating critiques as personal failures #because they aren't!! they're there to help!!! #anyway. enough venting for now #it's been a while since i got peer critiques so it's a little unnerving lol #but also also i just saw a very good breakdown of an episode of buffy that deals with grief #and i couldn't help comparing it to suddence which also deals with grief #and thinking 'wow. why didn't i do this. why didn't i do that. am i doing this all wrong' #AHH! writing is a very scary profession sometimes #but to be proud of myself for a second #i've never been so confident as to even show so many people my writing. let alone to receive critique on it #it's so strange to think there was a time where i kept all my writing bottled up and didn't talk about it to anyone even on tumblr #i began posting in 2018. that's not that long ago. that's only five years #and yet it feels like a billion years ago. i was still in university. suddence didn't even exist yet #wow. time is so weird

[angeltism]

EEEEEEH honestly during the time we were mutuals we interacted like a maximum of . two times. perhaps even just once. which is a bit crazy considering all of this now. i was just scared of trying to keep interacting honestly HSJAHDJSHD but if you dont feel like dating after i reveal myself that is completely absolutely alright! i would appreciate having you as a friend just as much! its whatever you prefer and whatever you feel more comfortable with :3

- 💌 anon

oooh well . still honestly I bet uur kewl <3 and yayaya !! thank uu for being understanding , I very much appreciate it . to be faaair , I do . kinda . have a soft spot for uu , y'know ? so even if it isn't immediately . . . the idea isn't something I'm opposed to ^_^

#➳ the fool's mail box #➳ sender; 💌 anon #with all of this being said . there def are things I'd need to know before like . being in a relationship #likeee . are we close in age bodily . nawt that uu would know since i don't share my age online idk but still . like . age range ? #but also no need to directly share that . at least for nyeow ? at the least i trust uu are a minor 😭 #um . and also if uur . dating anybun else ? aha ? <- very monogamous very mono . unlike a lot of the beings I've met on here . scary ! #augh it's purrobably obvious by nyeow but I'm a clingy jealous mess so being with anybun who'd be dating others . i just . can't #and that's honestly something I'm worried about a little bit like poly beings r so kewl but it just isn't for me #and a lot of beings i know on here are poly . ^_^' #or like idfk being poly itself is fine in a theoretical partner as long as they aren't strictly poly #like ''no if i wanna date other people will i can't just be with only one being bc that doesn't work for me'' #but ''i could theoretically be in a polycule but I'm okay with being in a mono relationship'' is good ! #and ofc ''i am fully mono just like uu'' is . also something that works for me #idk #these are the kinds of things i didn't wanna ask right off of the bat and i suppose I'll purrobably find out for myself whenever uu reveal #but like . still . uu can easily see why we could be incompatible lol . so . #augh idk where I'm going with this . I mean uu should know my boundaries n such if uu like-like me I just feel like a bit of a downer #bc boom what if everything is ruined nyeow or whatever blehhh #but anyways I'm gonna stfu nyeow i have some chores 2 knock out so I'll speedrun em while uu either write back . or do something else and #then write back . orrrr while uu do something else and write back when I'm done and at the computer so I can reply asap etc etc #agh i feel like i got weird w this even if uu are currently w others or something again we can totally just be friends . buddies . pals . #uur still kewl and really niceys so !

[drewsaturday]

long rambly annie appreciation post

i love my feral gremlin child annie SO much and i think something really fun about her is how she just... has no Need for relationships besides Dog?

she does seem to benefit from hanging out with charlie, and there's some potential there with irene. but she's stuck it out on her own so long she and dog can take care of themselves. she doesn't need to be nice and polite because she doesn't need anything from anyone else and even if she did she'd more realistically use force to get it lol.

and i mean, i can't even blame her because the first humans she came across in a decade shot at her best friend. besides the fact force is a solution she knows works and the fact she's been alone so long she's never HAD to consider any other solution, how can she trust any of the humans she just got thrown into these situations with?

we did see her actually develop a bit as well when she decided to stay with irene's camp, possibly showing a willingness to be open to relationships (or at least her knowing she and dog can't brave this one alone.) she had irene apologize instead of letting dog maul her. but i like that her personality didn't change all that much in the meantime.

i like that she's didn't feel pressured to start playing nice because like, she doesn't owe that to anyone. she has pretty much no reason to act nice and polite... i don't even think she knows HOW to honestly (see: her immediate "oh my god this coffee?? it's DISGUSTING" reaction in episode 1 instead of trying to pretend she's grateful for their attempt to warm her up j;lkLKJ).

and i particularly love how she didn't fall into the pitfalls of like, in stranger things having el see herself in the mirror and go "pretty o:" because... annie has no concept of society anymore. she has vague memories of a mom, she has a small child's understanding of the world she came from, but the only expectations she feels are 1) to survive and 2) to be dog's best friend.

i also loved that despite forgetting so much and adapting so hard, she DID still care that irene didn't find her for 10 years. she did love her dad. and so i have to wonder if that sense of betrayal, the impending doom of knowing someone you love will just die, is another factor in her being so Annie. she said it herself - any time someone had told her she's safe, they've died. people are weak and fragile and they're going to fail her, but she and dog are strong and invincible and that's Safe (i say, hoping dog survived that finale).

why change that now?

#skull island tag #all that to say i think if anything we've seen some development for her accepting that she and dog #can't survive this situation alone and that maybe there's some value in learning more about other people #i mean she keeps saving charlie and mike even tho dog doesn't like em all that much aj;lksdf she knows they're on her side #but that doesn't mean she's suddenly going to be nice and polite about it #she's tried playing nice a bit like admitting she doesn't rly know how friendships work and letting irene live lol #but this is a Lot for a KID who has spent most of her life in her own little world with dog and i don't #think it's fair to expect much else from her #i think honestly if anything it's cool that the show isn't forcing much else on her #OH ALSO ALSO!!! SHE CAN BE SO THOUGHTFUL like she saw everything they put kong through #and still wanted to hand him back the necklace #she didn't see him as just a means to an end despite the survivalism i've mentioned #she knows the necklace is important to him even though she has no idea why #she knows--because of dog--that these creatures can have so much heart #he helped save her and dog and she wanted to return the favor #if she were selfish she never would've stuck around on that beach

[rosysugarr]

god I love tumblr screennames. people on this site will really call themselves whatever.

#this feels like the last bastion of people being willing to just call themselves literally what the fuck ever #i'd write out some of my faves but i don't wanna accidentally summon those people bc i don't know them and don't wanna bug em #rosychatter

[girlyliondragon]

Soooo YEAH after seeing my friends play it I am NOT PLAYING STRAY.

MAJOR TRIGGER WARNING THAT IS LITERALLY NOT SPOKEN ABOUT

If you have a phobia of eyes/clusters DON'T PLAY IT. It's on a very small section of the game but that small section can be enough to set people unnerved by that sort of stuff or with such a phobia off. (Especially judging by how my friends reacted to it, one of them is into body horror and even they thought it was too much.)

The game has no warning for it, and it's realistic eye stuff too, so please take care before playing the game.

#I was lucky to not see that part. But... yeah #I think people NEED to know about that because this is NOT just some cute kitty game it's actually really fucked up later in #Stray Game #Stray Videogame #stray 2022 #Em Speaks #Yes I'm saying something that can be considered spoilers because NOBODY IS TALKING ABOUT IT #I don't have the phobia I think but I think I do of the realistic shit 🤢 #What sucks is there's no warning about this at all. #The hook was that you play as a cat but nobody talked about the very ew stuff like that

[jadeddays]

idk how people get over things and people so easily. I really just stew and rot and rot and stew. The notion of easily moving on with barely a care is so foreign to me, I wish it wasn't though lol

#See I know too many people who are too callous and flippant and happy to use others #And its like those ones need to adopt some of my behaviours #But with me it's like no you should def adopt some of theirs like get over it !!!!!! #Why are you like this !!! #Stop caring be a bitch leave people in the wind and don't bother to even think of em!!

[the-furies]

btw in case anyone cares Ithink Kim would be an avatar of the Eye . Harry too perhaps if not Spiral

#pk;m electrochemistry🔴 #i am extremely tempted to assign the other Skills entities too and tbh I might have to anyway #as it's one fo thee Alignments we track for everyone in-sys #but jot right kow. #I also think it migjt be easy to figure out mine personally here if you know us & tma decently #also some Skills' would be obvious source-wise. Encyclo is obvs Eye aligned if he isn't smth is Fuckt #i have to read abt the others tho we never rlly memorized the Vibes fr em outside of Eye & Spiral #also half light is Slaughter coded. btw. #i don't think people can be more than 1 Entity's avatar right? bit they can be like. Monitored . by more than 1? idk havent listened 2 tma #in. years #Oh no brain don't. i don't have spoons to draw out what people would Look Like as avatars. fuck of

[burr-ell]

Honestly, imodna would be a good ship if the shippers/stans weren’t so damn insufferable. I also hate how they act like they are already canon and you can’t ship Imogen or Laudna with anyone else in the group. People got so mad when the conversation in the dust storm happened with Ashton and Laudna because people thought they were flirting. Or when on the first episode of 4 sided dive Marisha asked Robbie if Dorian’s crush was on Imogen, people got so mad at that! I also hate that they call them lesbians when THEY HAVE BOTH EXPRESSED HAVING FEELINGS FOR BOYS! Why can’t they be bi? Or Pan? I also hate how people read into Laura’s micro expressions/ movements, like last episode with the whole leaning shit “oh what was that lean Laura?!! Imogen wanted to kiss Laudna because look at Laura’s lean!” I dread the day that Imogen or Laudna fall in love with someone that’s not each other(especially if that person is a man.) because Marisha and Laura will harassed and hated because they didn’t give the people what they wanted.

oof. that's some frustration you really needed to vent, nonnie, and honestly i get it. full disclosure—my mutuals who are into imo/dna are all lovely, and none of them engage in this behavior. if imo/dna becomes canon, i'll be happy for (and potentially even happy with) fans like that. but enough shippers are doing things like this that it's becoming more and more of a source of frustration and friction as the campaign goes on.

i think a lot of fandom—in general, not just cr—still doesn't want to acknowledge that at the end of the day, they are looking at things like shippers, with a particular kind of confirmation bias. it doesn't make them necessarily wrong or right, but as easy as it can be to get swept up in it, i think it's important to take a step back every once in awhile and re-evaluate.

now admittedly, generally speaking, it takes a lot for me to get really invested in a ship; i usually only have one or two per fandom, even fandoms with tons of characters. i'm generally pretty passive about most ships if it's not the otp; like, vax/leth and pike/lan, for example, didn't need to be romantic endgame for me to enjoy CR1 (and honestly might have been more interesting to me if they hadn't), but perc/ahlia absolutely made the show for me and i honestly think them being together actively strengthens the narrative as a whole.

i say all that to say that for the most part, i very much consider myself to be along for the ride with respect to most relationships in most fandoms. if such-and-such pairing happens, great; if they don't, okay. and with CR in particular, it's such a long-form medium that i know going in that any romance is going to take a while, and most of them probably won't just reach out and grab me.

and as such, it absolutely baffles me to have seen shippers insisting, from the moment the characters first appeared in episode 1, that not only are imogen and laudna canon endgame, they're basically already together and just haven't admitted it yet. i feel this way about dor/ym and callow/moore as well—i saw a post making the rounds that claimed that all three of those ships are "not canon YET but let's be real" and like...why would you set yourself up for disappointment like that? because yeah! all three of those ships could be endgame! but they could also not be endgame. we're less than 40 episodes into a campaign that'll probably run well into the 100s.

i also fully agree with you re: the microexpressions and the cherrypicking, and i feel like a microcosm of this issue can be found in a conversation imogen has with orym early on—shippers latched onto the fact that imogen compares laudna's thoughts to music, something that finally brought her peace after the chaos of the world around her, and completely ignored the part immediately after where imogen says that the rest of the party also feels like that to her. i didn't even know that imogen said that about the whole party until i watched the episode, and to me it's an example of how shippers tend to warp canon interactions to suit a particular narrative in such a way that they become almost entirely divorced from their context.

and from the outside looking in, what confuses me about this sort of thing is like...didn't y'all already go through this? because if my understanding is correct, c2 ship discourse was full to the brim with beau/jes and wido/jest fans dissecting "laura's microexpressions" to prove that jester was for sure in love with our fave, really you guys we swear...and then not only was that not true, but jester also didn't even know about beau or caleb's feelings to acknowledge them at all, and from the actual words that came out of laura's mouth in various OOC moments like on TM, laura just...really really wanted to romance her husband's character in her dnd game and like, that's it. there was never going to be another romantic option for jester as long as fjord was on the table, and that was something that shippers always should have been taking into account.

laudna and imogen are canonically deeply important to each other. they love and appreciate each other very much. that love and appreciation could turn into a lovely romance with a great dynamic, and i certainly don't blame people for being invested in it. but it also could not be romantic endgame, and they remain friends or even get with other people. and as you said, fandom can and will turn nasty about their ships being sunk; we've already seen it happen. there's a certain smug, entitled undercurrent from that particular corner that i have very little patience with, and while i think there's something to be said for deciding to enjoy things in spite of the fandom and just be a cranky old curmudgeon shooing the wank out with a broom, i also understand the response of just "...aight, imma head out".

#the 'laura's microexpressions' thing is also why i really don't care for glasses!imogen #it's obviously not a bad thing in a vacuum but there's a tendency toward overriding specifically laura's choices and saying 'i know better' #such that even something as innocuous as glasses can be representative of a larger more frustrating problem #honestly i wonder if laura will even DO a romance this time around after two campaigns of her characters being reduced to: #a) the men in her life and then b) who she'll end up with #bc imogen has some strong vibes of like. arent u tired of being nice? don't u just wanna lose it? #like imogen reminds me very strongly of vex but specifically of the ways in which vex couldn't be unpleasant or unappealing #(mostly because vex puts up fronts to mask her flaws specifically from the party) #(while imogen is more trying to hide her actual powers and what they can do) #and i think some of that naturally comes from being a woman in geek culture on the internet as well as a woman in voice acting #but i feel like it might also come from her characters being constantly put under a microscope #and constantly told what they should and shouldn't do #and the second they make choices that make another better-liked character upset they're terrible people #like she's obviously a grown adult 40 year old woman but the constant scrutiny of your dnd choices has gotta wear on you a little bit #and yeah i didn't touch on this in the ask but. it has been 0 days since fandom did a bi-erasure #(the thing about having only 1 or 2 ships per fandom reminded me that out of all the dc comics ships i literally only care about dickkory) #(clois also has rights on account of dc can snort my taint and let two adults be happily married) #(i've had convos with friends who ship bbrae who are like 'but why would dickkory shippers dislike bbrae? they dont threaten you') #(idk man some of em just don't dig the vibe!) #cr discourse #cr wank #critical role #asks