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incorrect-skylanders-quotes · 1 year

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My (kinda disjointed) thoughts on some Skylanders ships (part 1)

Trying something new today! It's gonna be hard to write an opinion on Skylander ships, considering the fact that most of them are crackships and half the characters have really basic personalities, but I'll try my best. I'm starting with the dragon Skylanders, but I'll eventually cover other Skylander pairings in the future.

Spyro x Cynder: 9/10. Pretty basic, all things considered. It's the ship people choose because they were hardcore Legend of Spyro fans and shipped Spynder back then. I do think they have a good dynamic; Cynder's evil past is ripe with angst and hurt/comfort potential, and Spyro being the one to save her naturally makes him a perfect candidate to provide the "comfort" part. At the same time though, I understand the appeal of having them remain platonic since as of 2023, Skylanders is the only Spyro media to have both appear without any hint of romance between them.

Spyro x Sunburn: 6/10. It's mostly an ironic ship I thought of as a joke during the early days back when I only did incorrect quotes exclusively about the dragon Skylanders. I don't think Sunburn and Spyro would really have a whole lot of interesting interactions.

Spyro x Whirlwind: 1/10. I don't see the appeal. To me, they're just friends or coworkers. Nothing more than that. The only reason anyone ships this is that they hate Cynder or Spynder, but they also don't want to ship Spyro with the humanoid girls or Sonic Boom because "interspecies romance yucky"

Whirlwind x Cynder: 9/10. The opposite of Spywind. These two have a great dynamic, Whirlwind being ostracized for her mixed heritage, while Cynder's distrusted for her past as a servant of Malefor. The two could find a lot of comfort in each other due to their shared experiences. The only reason it's not a complete 10/10 is because I prefer pairing the two with other characters.

Whirlwind x Sunburn: 8/10. It's aight. I guess the way their backstories contrast is interesting, Whirlwind used to be hated for being a dragon hybrid while Sunburn was coveted for the same reason.

Whirlwind x Camo: 7/10. No strong opinions.

Sunburn x Camo: 8/10. I can see why it has appeal. Two pranksters goofin' off together is always nice.

Whirlwind x Sunburn x Camo: 9/10. Whirlwind and her two supportive bfs, who are also dating each other. I think overall I prefer polyshipping these three over their separate ships, but the reasons why are based entirely on fanon I made up regarding the three.

Whirlwind x Zap: 5/10 ...Eh? Nothing wrong with it, but I don't really see the appeal either. It's better than Spywind because the entire basis for the ship isn't just "a hetero dragon ship for Spyro that isn't Cynder"

Side note: Damn, Whirlwind has a lot of ships. Why is that?

Drobot x Camo: 8/10. I think it's really funny. Drobot the serious, intelligent, and logical-minded, while Camo is a jokester who makes fruit explode for shits and giggles. The contrast between serious and silly always makes for a fun dynamic, and I think if the two ever got meaningful interactions, Camo would be the guy who'd get Drobot to loosen up.

Bash x Flashwing: 8/10. This pairing actually has ground to stand on since it's one of the only ships that have actual potential for being canon. Bash falling in love with Flashwing is literally half of her backstory, and it's a standout trait for Bash and Skylanders in general. It's rare for Skylanders characters to actually have romantic feelings for anyone, much less each other, which is what makes this ship so appealing, it's potential for exploring this idea. Sadly, canon has not seen that potential. There's been no actual exploration of the pairing in Skylanders media, not even the comics or Skylanders Academy, which literally exist to flesh out the goddamn Skylanders. The closest we get is apparently from a book called "Skylanders Universe: The Complete Collection, page 39" which states Flashwing canonically likes Bash back, though she won't admit it out loud (don't quote me on this, I got it from the wiki). That's it. That's all we get. If the pairing actually got explored in official Skylanders material, then it'd be a 9 or a 10.

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babacontainsmultitudes · 1 year

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Swiftli? Grant/Marco? Mercedes/Carol? Autumn Oak/Linda Stampler? (spreading my own propaganda <3)

For the ship ask thing :)

Also sorry that it’s kinda a lot lmao

Hiya!!! Hehe very interesting choices, love this, let's get to it!

Swiftli: COMFORT SHIP ALERT!!!

So, okay, the thing about this ship is that it's not my default ship for Linc or even necessarily Taylor? But that's not to say I'm conflicted, no, I really like these two together!

*Romantically* I think it kinda took me a while to feel the appeal of this ship? But then like... One night on a whim I found myself making a really silly playlist for them and... That made me understand it? At least what it is for me. This and, @raemeh (iirc) made a post about their first kiss being a surprisingly good one and- gee idk that made me go 😳 as well hahaha.

And yeah! Like I said this is absolutely a comfort ship for me, they're very silly and cute together, love to rotate them around in my head, might even write them at some point who knows!

Marco/Grant: OUGH THE CUTIE PATOOTIES OH MY GOSH I'M PUTTING THEM TOGETHER IN A LITTLE JAR AND SHAKING THEM AROUND AND THEN UH GIVING THEM SOME PRIVACY EHEHEH

At the start of S2 I think it's fair to say that of all the kiddads I was probably most curious to see what kind of person Grant ultimately got with, I suppose probably because relationship troubles are such a big thing for him in S1! And I just want the best for him honestly ahaaa

😫 And I wasn't disappointed! Marco is so sweet and they're so cute together and eghhsibgosesg-

Er, despite this I'd actually like to see some angst/conflict between them? Grant has a lot of explaining to do tbh, and I sorta don't want everything he's hid and lied about to go without consequences from Marco... But of course I'd want them to work everything out in the end! I think that would make me love them even more tbh.

In general I really just want more of these two in canon! They need to kiss... Otherwise, y'know in general I have a good chunk of ships for Grant but... Ultimately so long as Marco exists in the same universe, I tend to imagine them getting together in the long run.

Mercedes/Carol: Oooh interesting! Not a ship I've thought too much about tbh, but I could get behind it! I think my main hang-up if anything is that usually when I imagine ships with either Henry or Mercedes, either one of them doesn't exist in that universe or they never met, or it's a poly thing! In this case, I'd probably like this best if Hen and Mercedes have an open-relationship sorta deal (I mean they sorta canonically do?) and these two get involved with each other within that context. 🤔 Could also get behind a 4-way poly scenario with Darryl as well, but that's not a necessity by any means!

:0 I like the idea of Carol getting to experiment and maybe learning more about her sexuality and the like the way Darryl sort of got to in S1, and Mercedes would be a lovely person to see that happen with! Yeah, they'd be cute together I think!

Autumn/Linda (Ron's mom!): I'm so fascinated by this ship??? Also love that we've just established Linda's name haha good for her good for her.

You'll have to tell me more about how you see this ship before I come to any concrete feelings about it tbh! Still, I like the premise I mean, I guess they'd actually have a bunch going for them? On its own I love the idea of the omega daddies being divorced af and their exes getting together haha it's what they deserve. But yeah they could genuinely be quite good for each other! I imagine Linda must be pretty good at dealing with people with anger issues, she'd probably have the patience to be there for Autumn in a way that matters and help her work through some things. And Autumn is an underrated catch tbh haha- :o also a very powerful druid who could possibly help Linda with her chronic illness??? The fact that she had a bit of a thing for Ron also makes her getting with his mom pretty funny to me.

Yeah idk, like I said I'm fascinated, feel free to ramble about them!!!

OKAY hehe, thanks for the ask!!!! 💜

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marley-manson · 1 year

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tropesssss:

sex pollen, hurt/comfort, unrequited love, mutual pining, mpreg, fake dating

Thank you!!

sex pollen

I'm in favour of it, though it depends on the circumstances. Porn with the focus on desperate horniness? Good. A focus on the dubcon? Good. Quick and easy get together scenario? Good. But if it's a way to get two people to fuck followed by several scenes/chapters of awkwardness and regret before they actually clear the air and get together that's more of a pass for me.

hurt/comfort

I like the hurt part, I tend to lose interest when it comes to the comfort part. I find that the main appeal there is usually the fantasy of a perfect partner who will do everything right and drop everything to care for the person who suffered's every need, and it's a vibe that wigs me out a little. On the other hand it's one of my favourite things if the comforter like, kinda sucks lol, and does the wrong thing sometimes, or makes things worse, or it's just awkward and difficult for everyone involved.

unrequited love

I usually love it. If it's a ship I prefer one-sidedly it kicks ass and I rub my hands together gleefully while reading it, and if it's a ship I prefer as a happily ever after ship, then it's ideal angst for when I'm in a certain kind of mood, and one of the few tropes nearly guaranteed to make me cry lol. As long as it's not just shoved in as a prelude to a ship I don't like, ofc.

mutual pining

Solid fundamental trope right here. It can be written annoyingly, eg contrived misunderstandings, badly paced slowburn, but when it's good it's top tier.

mpreg

I've never been able to get into it, whether it's a magic/sci-fi scenario, mundane but shh don't ask how, or omegaverse. I mean pregnancy isn't my thing in general, I don't enjoy it in f/f or het either, so it just follows that mpreg wouldn't do it for me. Get that man an IUD.

fake dating

Can definitely be a lot of fun, but not something I'll go out of my way for, and often depends on the author. imo it's best if it's a ship with tension, like enemies, rivals, or ascerbic friends. Ooh you know what the best mash ship for this would be? Hawnk. Or Charhawk. Charles decides to come out to his family even if it means being disinherited bc he's finally decided to live his truth, but he doesn't actually have a partner and he needs to bring one home to drive the point home. Or Frank shows up in Boston and crashes on Hawkeye's couch after his divorce because he's so much of a sadsack that Hawkeye's his best remaining friend and Hawkeye can't throw him out, and Hawkeye's gay friends assume they're fucking so Hawkeye plays it up to mess with Frank, but then they invited to a couples-only thing or something that he wants to go to for... some reason idk I'm spitballing here. The point is this would be comedy gold.

Send me a Trope and I’ll rate it!

#ask meme #usually i like mash's 50s setting but sometimes it makes things difficult...#text post

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2000snotebook · 1 year

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I think what happened with the Coven Heads in canon might be that most of them got puppeted before they regained consciousness, and Odalia was just far from the action. Terra then might have either regained consciousness early and got away, or the Collector reversed the spell on her for the sake of the game later.

But personally i really hate the puppet thing, it is such a violation of autonomy whether the people are conscious or not, and the show doesn't have time to address it properly, and it feels almost mean-spirited on meta level. Yes, it is a kids show and they had to find a way to focus on the main cast obviously, but imo there were better, more simple and kid friendly ways to do the Collector's game that would have covered the same themes. Especially since the show gets praise for its depiction of trauma.The whole thing feels kinda uncreative too, because it doest even feel like a twisted game of owl house that much.

Idk, i wouldn't have liked it even if it were just the bad guys affected, but it looks particularly bad that supporting characters of color like Darius and Raine are treated like objects (that post credit art with the tea party and Darius, especially).

I am bitter with Darius treatment in particular, because unlike the kids parents or principal Bump or even Raine, he doesn't even have anyone on the outside to worry about him, since they've dropped whatever connection he had with Hunter, and Eda and Lilith don't care. Like, with Bump, even though he is puppeted, at least it is clear he is still important so it doesn't feel that bad. (And unpopular opinion but it feels sometimes that certain plot points and moments in the show are less for the kids and more for adults who like theories and twists and ships)

Yeah that makes sense as to why the Coven heads were unable to get away before the Collector puppetted them.

Longer post under the cut

I also never liked the idea of people being turned into puppets in the first place (for the reason you mentioned but also because puppets, like toys, can BREAK if someone is careless with them) but certain owl show fans will get mad and call you sensitive if you think something was a bad writing choice 🤷‍♀️

What pisses me off about Raine in particular is that they’re literally getting nothing out of all of the things that happen to them (except r*eda becoming canon in the end I guess 😂). There’s no development, no arc, nothing that isn’t tied back to the white woman they were created for. I don’t have a problem with “bad things” happening to cause conflict. In fact I absolutely love angst. But if there’s no “point” or refreshing catharsis at the end of it all I’m not particularly interested.

Raine gets possessed back to back for them to be ~saved~ by Eda (which is something I also have a gripe with) knowing we won’t have time to even address Raine’s perspective about literally anything they’ve been through these past years is just… kind of not particularly interesting writing.

As for Darius, I guess I feel kind of disappointed that they seemed to have something set up for him (irt Hunter and the previous golden guard, perhaps even something to do with Raine and their rebellion) and don’t really do much with it. (This kinda happened with Gus and to some degree Willow(?)) I doubt that it’s gonna be adequately addressed in the final episode.

(I am honestly not sure if the writers/crew wrote certain things in the plot to appeal to fans honestly. Not to use “thE shOrtENing” as an excuse but I think what happened is that they had a lot of things set up to develop across seasons and… kinda missed the mark on trying to address all of them appropriately…or at all)

#asks #the owl house #long post

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miumiumandoodz · 1 month

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A friend shared this lil' meme on a server we're in so I kinda wanna do it lol

SOME EXPLANATIONS below and beware of controversial takes!

Ship That I Love At First Sight -- I'M A KORRASAMI TRUTHER SINCE BOOK ONE. Very controversial take, but I really hated how Mako behaved and how he was positioned on that stupid love triangle but Korra and Asami's interaction felt so genuine. It felt like they were genuinely so interested with each other and wanted to become (at least) friends, but felt a little awkward considering their situation. I remember saying to my friend "UGH I wish they're the ones being shipped by the show instead". I continued having no hope and watched the show in "eh" although I loved how their relationship finally developed. AND LO AND BEHOLD. People say them being endgame is not valid and not deserving can meet and fistfight me at 3 PM in the school's football field.

Ship That I Initially Don't Like - This is going to be another controversial take because hhh ok. So I started only shipping Akihiko and Shinjiro because who doesn't love tragic gay childhood best friends who were torn apart due to trauma and life choices and one of them died in a way to sorta atone their mistakes etc etc. Like THE ANGST -- especially when you play this game at FUCKING 16 and only slowly opening the closet door. I invest to them greatly. Surprise surprise, even though she's my type I initially didn't get to like Mitsuru immediately but I realized it's not Misturu that I hate but... Something about her relationship with Yukari bring the worst out of each other (yeah I know they get better at P4A but 1they do have a long way to go I feel like). Turns out I just don't like it when Mitsuru interacts with Yukari but her interaction with other characters is fine to me. So I didn't pay P3 attention for a while but revisited it somewhere in 2010 and I realized how in sync and deeply connected Akihiko and Misturu were. They're so parents-coded to SEES (and boi do I love a dilfxmilf coded ship). That November 4th event did appealed to me the first time but it appealed to me even more. And I thought about how both have lost everything but still have each other and get each other's back almost in a non verbal way. The only person who can love and understand Akihiko in and out the way Shinji does to me is Mitsuru and the only person who would have all the grace, compassion, and patience to Mitsuru with all her burden is just Akihiko. So yeah, I guess they're otp too now. It's okay if you don't agree with this or if you're disgusted by the fact that I don't really vibe with the popular wlw ship in P3. Sometimes you just don't vibe with something, you know. I'm sure there are things you just don't vibe with too and that's cool. That's just human. But if you call me lesboph*bic or h*mophobic for this and think I deserve harassment... WOAH lmao. Are you okay?

Ship That I Don't Like Anymore - Siegfried and Cassandra is a ship of the past when I was still a stupid literal child brainwashed by cisheteronormativity and I just shipped the emoest conventionally attractive BOY with the boisterous sunshine of a conventionally attractive GIRL. As I became an adult I just lost interest in it completely and realized, HEY. Cassandra Alexandra is BIG LESBIAN. No way that girl is straight. Besides, if I wanna see conventionally attractive blonde people getting hooked now, I can just look at Husband and Wife Courtney Miller and Shayne Topp Miller.

Favorite Popular Ship - I think this doesn't need much explanation.

Favorite Rarepair - So is this one.

Controversial Ship - Okay, so, maybe they're not that controversial, but OMG people hate villains and people just can't grasp the fact that sometimes we read books and watch shows and find the villains entertaining because they're complexly written. Do we condone all the fucked up things these two assholes had done? Nah. Do we find character dynamics and development interesting to pay attention to and how the story makes us wanna know what happen? Yeah! But still, people hate me for finding these particular fictional rocks interesting 😂🙃 Other than that, there are people with the headcanon of them being sisters and you know how people treat different headcanons than theirs online, harass the fuck out of anyone who has that different headcanon.

Ship That I Want To Become Canon Most - Sometimes an enby just wants to enjoy a non problematic ship where two adults fall in love and be parents. Sometimes I just wanna enjoy a found family and adoption ever after. Like that sweet dream stepmom headcanon or a girl adopted by loving parents and gets a younger sister thing. Like man. Sometimes you just want simple things. Llsten, I don't think my favorite, even close to canon queer cookie ships can have the chance so Devsis. I'm begging you. At least the breeders are ok with this one, just give it a greenlight.

Comfort Ship - This also needs no explanation lol. They're my foster parents.

A Ship That Deserves More Attention - I'm generally a casual Jojo shipper and most of my favorite ships are the common ones but I really enjoy the KakPol dynamic. Something about a chill guy and a disastrous guy feels kinda sweet to me. To be honest, I find Part 3 Jotaro is hard to ship with anyone (yes, including Kakyoin -- I'm ok with the ship tho!) because of how edgy and distant he is. Like, he's just being his cool main character self and no one can touch him (and Jotaro is my most favorite beside Lisa Lisa lol, but sometimes it's just weird how you just like a character but can't really ship em with anyone). So I just pay more giggles to KakPol and sometimes PolAvdol.

First OTP - I'm torn between Jason and Kimberly from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Rei and Minako from Sailor Moon or THEM. But I feel for a fact that I was a hardcore Xena x Gabrielle stan at 6-7 years old is so interesting to me. First of all, this isn't a kids show, unlike Power Rangers or Sailor Moon anime. Second of all, I still understood nothing and my idea of romance were soooo limited, yet I wanted these two to hold hands and go on dates. NO ONE TOLD ME HOW TO BE GAY but somehow I AM. I tuned in to Xena every Sunday afternoon. Like I just wanna see Xena and Gabrielle be badass and flirt with each other and somehow frustrated why they keep pairing them with uninteresting men lol 😂 but yeah. Look where I am now!

Current OTP - And to wrap it and sorta make it funny, of course I gotta involve another ship that has a Gabriel on it 😂 Of course this is my choice of current otp. I invest to them a lot and I still can't get enough of them. I want them to kiss forever and I'm grateful they have all the time to kiss 🥰

#fun things #fun stuff #ship meme

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fireemblems24 · 3 years

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Ao3 Ship Thoughts

To sate my desire to read Three Houses fan fiction and jump in on the shipping comments that have upticked recently, I decided to see what ships were the most popular on Ao3.

Some of it's exactly what I expected, and one in particular is just . . . what, why?

Ao3 is probably the closest you'll get to truly determining which ships are the most popular, or at least have the highest number of passionate fans. So I was curious to see who the top ships were. Here's the ones listed, in order:

Sylvain/Felix

Dimitri/Byleth

Edelgard/Byleth

Ferdinand/Hubert

Claude/Byleth

Dimitri/Felix

Dimitri/Claude

Felix/Annette

Caspar/Linhardt

Hilda/Marrianne

If I exclude the Byleth ships, Dimitri/Dedue, Byleth/Seteth, and Ingrid/Sylvain take up the three missing spots.

Byleth's Ships

I'm shocked. Really, truly shocked that Byleth/Lord is popular. Never wouldn't guessed. I am, of course, being sarcastic. If someone asked me to list who I think would show up in the top 10 most popular ships, the first three I'd list would be Byleth/Lord.

What I find more interesting is that Byleth/Seteth is the fourth option for Byleth. AO3 writers, I officially bow to your taste. It pleases me quite a bit that, if you're not going with one of the main lords, you all want Seteth. This I can agree with.

As for the Byleth/Lord ships, I feel kind of mixed on them. Every lord interacts with characters who have more depth than Byleth, but I still get the appeal. I'm going to deep dive into all of the lords relationships with Byleth later, but here's a quick summary.

Edelgard/Byleth is shoved down your throat so hard it's nearly impossible to ship Edelgard with someone else and even shortchanges her potential to have deep, non-romantic relationships because Edelgard puts Byleth on a pedestal that no one else can reach by her own dialogue.

Byleth's character arc works well alongside Dimitri's. While the relationship is pushed and fanservice-y scenes exist, the game leaves enough breathing room to see Byleth as a mentor/therapist/teacher figure, and Dimitri has no shortage of deep, meaningful relationships with others should you not want to do the whole self-insert thing. It's a good balance.

Claude and Byleth are the opposite of Edelgard and Byleth. They read almost more like friends than lovers. It's a breath of fresh air, honestly. Claude/Byleth seems like the healthiest possible romance for Byleth/lord because the lord in question here doesn't seem as dependent. That said, it lacks lacks romance and shipping fuel. I may complain about fanservice, but the Byleth/Claude dynamic does show why scenes of holding hands in the rain and teasing about badly drawn images might actually come in handy.

Edelgard's Ships

I'm not surprised, at all, that Edelgard has no popular ships outside of Byleth. Dialogue consistently shortchanges Edelgard's relationships with others by having her verbally, repeatedly put Byleth into a special "other" that no one else can reach for her.

Though, I guess I'm a bit surprised at the extreme lack of Edelgard/Hubert. I feel these two have a lot of shipping fuel and their supports left things unresolved. I've come across the sentiment in fandom many times that ship where things are tied off nicely with a bow leave less to explore and aren't as interesting, so I am bummed out no one seems interested in fleshing out Hubert/Edelgard more.

The outlook for Edelgard fanfic and me seems pretty limited. I don't like Edelgard/Byleth for various reasons beyond this scope of this post. I was kind of hoping there were some Edelgard/Hubert or Edelgard/Dorothea character study stuff that could help me get past how much Byleth gets in the way of Edelgard's character growth, but it seems fanfic writers only want to write about her and Byleth, which is a bummer.

On that note, I'm also surprised but also glad that Dimitri/Edelgard isn't a big thing. I thought it might be because tragedy of childhood friends turned enemies by events out of their control is popular. These two seem wildly incompatible though, so I'm glad people seem to agree.

Claude's Ships

Ok. Claude/Byleth. Expected. I'm feel positively towards the ship since they seem mostly good for each other even if it's not getting my heart all fluttering.

I'm surprised there's no Claude/Petra or Claude/Hilda. Those two are my personal favorites for him. I would've given Claude/Petra the edge given how they can uniquely relate to each other, but Hilda's scene in CF really gave Petra a run for her money. Even more so that Petra and Claude have obligations to two different nations and Hilda has no such complication.

But whattttt???? Claude/Dimitri? It's in the top 10?? More people ship Dimitri with Claude than Dedue?? I thought lord/lord might be popular, but I honestly thought Dimitri/Edelgard would take it, not Claude/Dimitri. They never really talk. So I'm a bit confused about this one. Though, intrigued by the idea.

Can I take a wild guess this partly stems from Claude having no real other viable M/M ships outside of M!Byleth and fics that plays up the chapter I'm about to play in AM (Dimitri saving Claude) or "what ifs" VW routes where Dimitri doesn't . . . you know.

I am really curious about this dynamic though. Because I like Claude - a lot. He's a character I want to get attached to. From experience, the fastest way for me to like a character is to give them a significant relationship I enjoy with a character I already love and the new character gets absorbed by proxy. So, fans, please, tell me more about this Dimitri/Claude. I am curious.

Dimitri's Ships

I am as unsurprised by Dimitri's being one of the biggest repeat offenders on here as I am by Edelgard being Byleth or bust. If Edelgard is written to fanservice the player by making the self-insert her one and only, Dimitri is fanservicing the player by being a shipping magnet. The writers knew what they were doing and who they were trying to appeal to with these two characters.

Dimitri/Byleth is a given. The game plays up the romance angle, but it's not at the expense of Dimitri's other relationships.

What I'm more interested in, though, is Felix/Dimitri. Between angsty CF stories, post-AM slow-burns, or fleshing out missing scenes from their shared childhood, there's just a lot to work with and a rich context to use their relationship - spun romantically - to explore each character. Felix and Dimitri's relationship is layered, complicated, heart breaking, and potentially healing. The fact they're two incredibly attractive guys doesn't hurt its popularity either, I'm sure. I'm not surprised it ranked that highly.

Claude/Dimitri surprises me. If two lords were going to get on this list together, I would've put bets on Edelgard/Dimitri. Since Claude and Dimitri's relationship is fairly unexplored, I'm really interested to see more about what exactly this is about. Don't get me wrong. I figured people would pair two main characters who are that good looking together, I just didn't think it would rank that high.

I am, slightly sad, that Dimitri/Dedue isn't a bit higher, but happy it seems to have some steam. I get it though. Dedue's not as flashy as some of the others on the shipping list and their relationship is so full of fluff by their A support it lacks the angst Felix/Dimitri and Dimitri/Byleth can draw out nor is as much of a play around with "what ifs" as Claude/Dimitri is.

Non-Lords/Main Characters Ships:

This list, more than anything else, shows AO3's penchant for writing M/M and F/F works for better or worse. Whether this phenomena stems from lack of representation, fetishizing by the fanbase, deeply ingrained gender roles making fictional M/F ships either less appealing to many fanfic writers, or M/F romances often getting assumed leading to less substantial writing compared to friendships - I don't know. Probably all of it.

There are a few surprises here for me. Felix/Sylvain is that popular? I figured they'd make the top 10, but #1 is surprising. Though, looking through the first page of the tag, it's true Felix/Sylvain have fics just for them, but it also seems like a common pairing in Dimitri/Byleth and Dimitri/Claude fics. It's the same story with Caspar/Linhardt, who I honestly didn't expect to see. They had a fair number of their own fics, but it seems many CF fics put them together rather than focus solely on them. Felix/Annette also balances being the main focus and an adjunct pairing. Marianne/Hilda seemed to have less fics where they took center stage and more they were one of many ships listed.

Ferdinand/Hubert having a lot of fics isn't surprising. I don't really care too much for it personally, but I can see the appeal of it.

I'm surprised Catherin/Shamir is nowhere in sight. Likewise, Rhea is absolutely nowhere. Kind of sad by the lack of adult characters in general. Especially Rhea. I think it's a pretty big sign of how the writing's treated her that such an important character is totally absent in this list.

Not surprised at all to see Felix also get so many ships. He, like Dimitri, seems designed on purpose to ship with many characters. I do really wish Dorothea and Seteth would get more attention though.

What do you guys think? Anything that surprised you? How do you feel about any of these ships and there popularity or lack thereof? Are there characters/pairings you wish got more attention? Any popular ships you despise (spill that tea)?

#fire emblem three houses #fe3h #fe16 #dimitri alexandre blaiddyd #claude von reigen #tagged them because I want to get people who ship Claude and Dimitri to see this and talk to me about that

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sly-s-n0nfusion · 2 years

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Based on AO3 filters, my ✨personal✨ ratings and opinions on octopath traveler’s most popular ships because yes

Rated H for Honest ™️ ⚠️ (or B for Brutally honest)

Alfyn/Therion - Yes. Just yes, I ship it and it’s obvious why it’s so popular. They have the perfect amount of fluff and angst and portray the “sushine cinnamon roll who trusts too easily x wary lone wolf with trust issues” trope so well, plus I remember their dialogues being deep and adorable. Kind doctor taking care of emotionally hurt thief? Good stuff I give it a 9/10

Cyrus/Therion - I don’t get the appeal of it so it gets a no from me. I really do wonder why it’s so popular but I’m guessing it’s either because they’re some of the few travelers who don’t get along particularly well so there’s a bit of bickering here and there or because they’re both pretty bois ™️ but yeah I really can’t see any chemistry or I’m just pretending to ignore the fact that 99% of cytheri fics portray Cyrus in a way that is so out of character it hurts and while some people might like that it’s really not my thing. Gets a 2/10 for the good looks

Primrose/H’aanit - Another yes from me! They’re absolutely adorable together, top lesbians gfs. Favourite trope is H’aanit getting flustered with Prim’s teasing and I just love that, plus headcanon that Linde would absolutely love Primrose’s cuddles just as much as H’aanit does. Gets a 9/10

Olberic/Erhardt - Oooh boy where do I start- mfs be like I love Olberic he’s my favorite character and then they ship him with Erhardt 💀 (AFFECTIONATE)

This one gets a Yesn’t ™️ from me. It’s a yes if it’s before the fall of Hornburg, because it’s obvious that what they had was more than friendship especially on Olberic’s side, like, the tension was real. It’s definitely a no if it’s after the fall of Hornburg for a lot of reasons starting with Olberic’s traumatic experience and deep emotional scarring but I’ll just boil it all down to “if I have to, I ship them as a divorced couple”. As I see it, it’s impossible for Olberic to fully trust Erhardt again after what happened, of course they’re back to being friends and fight side by side but my brother in christ I feel like he got sentimentally detached after the fall. In Italy we say “a dish that has been heated twice sucks” and I think it applies pretty well to olberhardt. So yeah super unpopular opinion but it’s not my cup of tea. I just think Olby deserves better and he needs to move on- gets a 5/10 for the effort

Cyrus/Olberic - Just look at my feed y’all, it’s a oh god yes from me. Good chemistry 👏🏻 good dialogues 👏🏻 good fluff potential👏🏻 good angst potential👏🏻 otp 👏🏻 the fact that their interactions are so endearing, and Cyrus is so dense, and Olberic’s pining that eventually gets payed off, and their stubborn duties to keep one another safe, they’re both amazingly written characters, nobile and always fighting for justice, but they also have really different interests and personalities and they- they just complement each other so well okay I love them very much get married already. Solid 10000/10

Ophilia/Therion - Totally didn’t expect this one to be so high on this list but anyway here we are. It’s a yes from me! I remember their dialogues being hilariously cute. The “shy kind girl x bad edgy boy” trope isn’t my favorite but they sure look good together (plus the art where Ophilia cuts an apple for Therion is adorable). It’s a 7/10 for me

Primrose/Ophilia - Gets a “eeeeh” from me. Not personally my favorite but I can see some chemistry there, I just see them more as having a little sister/big sister relationship. Doesn’t get more than a 4/10

Alfyn/Zeph - Apparently it made it to the top relationships on ao3 and there’s a good reason behind it, the boys have chemistry. It’s a yes from me, too bad the Mercedes arc kinda wrecked it but it was there. Not as good as Alfyn/Therion though. It’s a 8/10

These are just my opinions and they’re completely irrelevant please don’t burn my house down I love you all

Also if you want to discuss about your personal favorites please do!

#octopath traveler #ship ramblings #I was brutally honest but I guarantee #we respect all ships in this house #personal opinions #just some random thoughts #I’m the queen of passive aggressive statements don’t take this seriously #sly rambles

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tloujm · 3 years

Text

Part XXVI: Giving Grief

Author’s Notes: This is the first chapter I’ve posted in months (literally since April). I don’t know if this is a full comeback. I have a few chapters in the drafts that need to be edited and formatted for posting but after that, I still plan on continuing the series bc my plan was always have a long fic. With no new content after part II of the game was released, my interest in the fandom waned but was always there. Now with HBO creating a show based off the game, as well as me being apart of the Pedro Pascal fandom, I think I will soon become more consistent in posting as new content gets released. I will say that at least half of what appeals to me for Joel is Troy Baker’s voice and while I love Pedro’s voice too, I know it won’t be the same. I still think Pedro will do the voice justice bc he can do a damn fine country accent as seen in the movie Prospect on Netflix. If you’re a fan of his and have Netflix, please go watch it!

Genre: Angst and Fluff

Summary: You and Joel reconcile and bond over Ellie and Sarah.

Ship: Joel Miller x Fem!Reader

Joel waited for you to come home. He paced back and forth in the kitchen switching from holding the card and setting it down on the counter. He was eager to talk to you about this new revelation partly because he was nervous to have the other conversation with you. After a while of calming his nerves down, you still hadn’t come home. The sun had set an hour ago and Joel was ready to throw on his boots and go looking for you.

Just as he laced them up, the front door opened. You walked in and immediately stopped because his body blocked you from walking in the house further.

“Going somewhere?” You asked as you slid past him. He was a grown man and could do what he wanted, but the thought of him leaving to go do other things before the issue between you was resolved upset you.

He reached back down to unlace his boots. “Not anymore. I was ‘bout to head out and find you.”

“Why?” You asked dryly.

“I’d been waiting on you to come home for a couple of hours. We gotta talk.”

“You’re right, we do. I was helping Wendy walk the kids home from the daycare; that’s what held me up. I’m here now, though.” You leaned against the back of the couch and crossed your arms. The stance you took reminded you of what Joel would do.

He walked into the kitchen and came back. “Kiddo made this for us.”

You took it in your hands. “When did she have time to make this?” He shrugged. Your fingers brushed across the drawing of the hat before finally opening it. “Oh my God.” She looked at you for a split second before looking back down at her signature. “Her name has been ‘Ellie’ the whole time.”

“I know.” He commented.

“She never said anything. All of us have asked her.”

“Technically, she still hasn’t spoken her name, but I guess she wasn’t ready for that.”

“She wasn’t ready to let anybody in.” You said. He nodded in agreement.

“Until now.” He walked up to you and pointed to her name on the card. “She’s doing so good, this Ellie. I can only try to imagine the horrors that she’s seen out in the world before she came to Jackson, but whatever happened out there, it led her to us. I’m...It’s just nice to see her opening up to this place.”

You understood what he was trying to say. “Yeah, I’m proud of her too.” You walked past him and into the kitchen to hang the card on the refrigerator. Joel followed. This time, his arms were crossed.

“(Y/N), I meant it when I said I was sorry back there. I shouldn’t have said what I did.”

“If you didn’t mean it, you wouldn’t have said it.” You rebutted.

“I was upset with you because I expected you to react the same as me when Ellie climbed up that T-Rex, but I don’t want a carbon copy of myself. I love you and want to have a family with you because you are wise beyond your years, confident even if you don’t always think so, responsible even for things that aren’t your responsibility and most importantly, you’re level headedness. Where I have a tendency to lose my cool in certain situations, you are guided by this calm...patient sense of will that I envy.” He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, giving you the opportunity to say something. Seeing that you were still soaking in his words, he continued. “You’ll be a great mother. I saw it in the gentle way you juggled all those kids at the daycare. I saw it in the way you took care of Ellie the first day she came here. You’ll see though, if it’s meant for us to have a baby, how difficult it is to stop worrying. It didn’t stop when Sarah....even when I tried to push those feelings away. It doesn’t stop. I know she’s not her, but it’s hard for me to just stand by and watch her do something that could hurt her.”

“I wasn’t standing by, or at least that wasn’t my intention. I wanted to give her space. She’s so delicate, or maybe that’s my problem. I shouldn’t treat her like she’s some glass figurine. I just wanted her to grow comfortable with us by trusting her. Believe me, it wasn’t easy for me to do when there was nothing personally for me to go off of, but then I thought, she’s lived out there for God knows how long by herself. She’s not only seen things but has been able to survive things. It’s hard to see how clever someone is when they won’t let you in, but I knew she had to be to have made it this far. I get it though. I’ve never been a parent. I can only sympathize with your worries. I can not empathize with you until I’ve been where you have. I’m sorry too. I could have found a way to give her space without allowing her to be in such a dangerous spot. You must be disappointed in me.”

He moved up to you and placed his hands on your shoulder. “I’m not. Look at me. I’m not disappointed in you. She was both of our responsibilities earlier.” He brought you into a tight hug. “You’re right, she is smart. She felt comfortable enough to show a side of herself that no one else has seen. You know why? ‘Cause she felt safe around us. Despite the grief she put me through, it was nice to see her so happy.”

“I know it was, wasn’t it? I can’t believe she jumped though! I didn’t think she’d go that far.”

“At the end of the day, kids will be kids. It’s not an excuse to slack off on raising ‘em, but there's just a certain wild and carefree nature that every kid has. It’s instilled in their DNA or somethin’ and then it fades away as they get older, about the time their back starts to ache.” Joel chuckled as he explained. He kissed the top of your head before pulling away to get a good look at you. He made a face as if to ask if you were ok. You nodded. He took your hand and pulled you into the living room. You sat down next to him. “She reminds me of Sarah sometimes. Ellie’s about the same age as her. She ran me through the ringer, raising that one.” He chuckled at the memories. “I wouldn’t trade it in for the world, being her dad, but you shoulda seen the amount of grief she put me through. Especially being a single parent.” He wiped his hand across his face, letting it linger along the length of his neck. “One time, she snuck off to some skate park when I told her no. She was in this skateboarding phase. I bought her a customized skateboard for her birthday and she would practice using it up and down the driveway. She had barely learned that little flippy trick when she asked me to take her to the skate park. I told her no because it looked like it was for experienced skaters. I wanted her to practice more first. To say the least, she was mad at me. She told me she was staying after school for the science club, but she really went to the skate park with some friends. By the time I figured out where she was, I found her lying in the grass, holding her arm in pain. Turned out she had a hairline fracture in her...radius?” He pointed to the bone on his arm. You nodded that it was in fact called radius. “I grounded her for lying to me, but sometimes I wonder if I should have taken her to the park. I mean I’m no expert on skateboarding, but at least I could have been there to supervise; make sure she wasn’t on one of those tough looking ramps.”

“Did you ever take her skateboarding after she healed up?”

“After the cast came off, she switched interests to soccer. I installed a shelf on one of her walls to hang the skateboard on. Better that than being stuffed under her bed. Soccer was her life though. She made new friends from the team, won titles, learned tricks with the ball. Me and Tommy were regulars at her games. I was...am proud of her.”

You smiled as you envisioned his memories. “Did she give you grief with that as well?”

He nodded in an exaggerated way. “Oh yeah, but I’m sure I used to give her grief too.” You lifted your eyebrows with desire for him to elaborate. “I may or may not have argued with the coach and ref on a few occasions regarding plays.”

“You never dated any of the soccer moms?” You teased.

He scoffed. “Most of them were married and the ones who weren’t, I sent Tommy’s way instead. He wasn’t mad at it.” The two of you chuckled. “I did flirt with a few, married or not, so I could get my hands on some of their homemade baked goods.”

“I was under the assumption that soccer moms made food for everyone.”

“They did, but I still wanted a few more cupcakes for the ride home.” He admitted as you laughed. “Listen, I had a busy life. I didn’t have much time to hone my baking skills, so it was nice to be able to have homemade cakes and cookies for a change.

“Well, if you wanted cookies, that’s all you had to say! I can show you how to bake right now.”

“It’s late.” He reasoned.

“It’s never too late to feed your sweet tooth.” You rebutted as you pulled him back into the kitchen.

#TLOU #TLOU2 #TLOUII #the last of us #the last of us joel #the last of us fanfic #The Last of Us 2 #the last of us fanfiction #tlou ellie #tlou joel #tlou fanfiction #tlou oc #naughty dog #Joel Miller #joel x reader #joel miller fanfic #Joel Miller x Fem!Reader

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theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin · 3 years

Note

After that gorgeous sequel rant, would you be willing to share your thoughts on reylo?

Ugh.

Once again, that is the most succinct, easiest, answer I can supply. But it's so short, and that just won't do.

I mentioned in a recent post that Dramione comes in a myriad of disguises. Every fandom usually has at least one Dramione ship, you can usually guess which characters the ship will consist of, and while you might not be able to articulate exactly what about it makes it so damn similar to Dramione you will recognize it on sight.

Usually, to me, a Dramione ship features a strong, independent, female lead who may be varying levels of sexually empowered, varying levels of intelligent (Hermione loves to tell us how smart she is but it's not the heart of the ship), is strong, courageous, and noble who depending on the story du jour might slide into depravity. The real give away is her love interest, always a man, usually a young man of comparable age, who has the bad boy appeal that's not too bad boy where he often is redeemed to the good side for 'reasons' in the course of the story.

Reylo is such a Dramione pairing.

You don't believe me? Look at the authors who write it, I haven't done this too often myself, but I guarantee you that a not small majority of them will either write Draco/Hermione or will have it all over their favorites and bookmarks. It's the same damn pairing.

But worse.

Because Kylo-Ren and Rey aren't really characters.

"Whoa, hold up!", you say, "That's just slander and uncalled for!" Well, change my mind. Rey Palpatine and Kylo-Ren are a series of character tropes and archetypes thrown to us by Disney screaming "LOVE MY CHARACTERS".

Rey is our noble, very Luke like, hero who is a scrappy desert rat with overwhelming mystical powers only acknowledged when the movies feel like acknowledging them (guys, admit Rey kicked Kylo-Ren's ass every time they fought with 0 training, come on, it's not hard).

However, there is nothing underneath her surface. Her hero worship of the resistance feels dull and given to her because it's expected. Of course Rey likes the resistance! The resistance is great! Sign her up! Rey has been living in the desert at the edge of nowhere for presumably 15 years, I'm shocked she's even heard of the new republic let alone the resistance. Despite essentially starving and only having a home that's a broken down old fighter, Rey saves a random droid. We're not really given a compelling reason of why she would do this, that she has a deep respect for droids/is horrified by their use, really really really hates the random trader she sells things to, or really really really hates the empire (if she even realizes it's them behind the bounty). She does it just so that a) the plot keeps moving b) to show Rey is... noble... I guess?

Remember that even Luke (who I have some problems with as a character) started his journey with more backstory and personality than this. Luke loved the empire and desperately wanted to become a pilot. He was very put out that his aunt and uncle kept saying, "Uh, no, bad idea." Luke was ready to skip town and sign on up for flight academy, he just got distracted by pretty women, er, his sister.

So, Rey is never given a compelling reason to do any of the things she does in the series. Just vague feelings of hero worship. And, of course, the drama over her parents. Just... I feel like Disney took out a hat, put a bunch of pieces of paper with words on them, and drew out the one that said "orphan angst about parents" and said "See, now she's conflicted! What a character!"

So yeah, Rey is your cardboard generic hero who is so generic she's not even a person. She has no hopes, no dreams, no fears, just these vague things we're told as an audience she cares about but never shown in any legitimate manner. Rey likes the resistance and rando droids, Rey imprints on Han Solo as the father she never had, Rey has this thing about her parents, Rey is attracted to Kylo Ren.

And that last one, oh boy that last one. It sold me less on the attraction to Kylo Ren than... oh... I don't know... Palpatine's secret Sith planet of doom. I mean, we all saw it coming, The Last Jedi it was very clear where that was going and then Abrams went for it even harder. But what we had was a series of skype conversations where Rey went from "Gr, you killed my pseudo father!" and Kylo-Ren responding, "Yeah, well he was my real father AND HE WAS SO MEAN" to "Oh Ben, I will fly to you through space and we shall save the galaxy together!"

I am given no reason to believe Rey's change of heart. Han Solo's death just suddenly... doesn't really mean much to her anymore (the man was murdered by his son in cold blood so that his son could feel better about himself). She believes Ben Solo is good now because Luke is a dick (never mind that, no matter what a dick Luke is, Ben Solo still murdered dozens of children and then went on to gleefully massacre his way through the galaxy). We're told there's a Force Dyad, which is um... not this thing the writer's made up because they were too lazy to convince me that Kylo-Ren and Rey would end up together in any organic way.

So, yeah, why does Rey like Kylo-Ren? Because the Force told her too? Because it was somehow all Snoke's fault in a way that's never properly described? (Indeed despite us spending quite a bit of time on Kylo-Ren's decision to remain Kylo-Ren being a very internalized thing) Because we saw him shirtless in yoga pants this one time?

It's bad when that last is actually the most legitimate reason I can think of out of the whole lot.

Now let's go to Kylo-Ren. If Rey is boring and nonsensical then Kylo-Ren is a dumpster fire and non-sensical. The guy reminds me a lot of Commodus from the film "Gladiator", the man is cowardly, vile, and murders his father in despair that his father never will be capable of loving him/passes him over for the throne. Kylo-Ren's murder of Han Solo is extremely similar to the murder of Marcus Aurelius in "Gladiator". Han Solo is a flawed father, trying to make his peace with his son, who approaches him unarmed and Kylo-Ren decides to murder him in order to solidify his place in the dark side.

Only, the films never acknowledge that every action Kylo-Ren takes is horrifying.

We're told "oh, Kylo-Ren exists because evil Snoke corrupted him" but also shown repeatedly that Kylo-Ren chooses the darkest path again and again and again. He "struggles with the light" but I don't see it. His opening scene, he has massacred a village and is torturing a man for information (this is presumably a daily routine for him). In the same film he later tortures Rey for information. He serves on a Death Star which wipes out billions in an instant. He murders his father to feel good about himself. He dresses as a man who was reviled and feared throughout the galaxy, a man who murdered countless children, and a man who dressed the way he did because he was barely hanging onto life, because Kylo-Ren thinks it makes him look like a badass. Think about it, this is like if a fully abled Kylo-Ren is wheeling around in a wheel chair, perfectly capable of walking, because he thinks that Professor X is so cool. Now, replace Professor X with Hitler, this is what the movies gave us.

Yet, the films seem to take it for granted that Kylo-Ren is a redeemable character. He's just lost and misguided, he's really struggling with the light and dark side! They don't just tell us this over and over again (which they do) but also just assume we know it.

And base the entire Reylo pairing off of it. Reylo believed Kylo-Ren could be redeemed, they battle Snoke together, then Kylo-Ren stabs her in the back and continues the assault on the Resistance and asks her to be his Dark Queen (TM). Reylo is shocked and appalled, I'm just wondering what movie she thought she was watching, because that was coming a mile away.

Later, when Kylo-Ren is redeemed, we're never given a reason why it happens. Leia just gives him a nagging, one word, phone call and then Han Solo shows up to go, "Ben, are you going to do the right thing?" and Ben goes, "Mumble, grumble, fine" because there's only an hour left in the last film.

Kylo-Ren, like Rey, is the writers' desperate attempt to create a compelling anti-hero with all the anti-hero sauce we love. They just won't admit they made an overgrown genocidal toddler.

Wow, this turned into why I hate both Rey and Kylo Ren, but, uh, back to the ship. Basically, the films give me 0 reason to ever believe it, and even if I wanted to, even if I said "Alright brain, let's make these characters real people for once", I still wouldn't like it. Because the ship itself is just as flat as the characters. It's spicy but not too spicy bad boy gets together with strong female lead.

I know a lot of people enjoy this, and I won't say it's any less legitimate than any of the weirdness I ship, but I'm not one of them. And the whole thing just makes me go "ugh".

#ask #anon #anti reylo #anti kylo ren #anti rey #anti star wars sequels

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austajunk · 3 years

Note

Kamukura for the ask meme, pls! I adore this man 🤩

Alrighty, Izuru Kamukura it is. ^^

-Favorite Thing About Them

Okay. Don’t be mad at me cos I’ll explain this. I like the way he rejected Nagito in Chapter Zero in the second game. When I say that, I mean I like his speech. I like how his identity is hidden. I like how he writes Nagito, whose abilities seem utterly extraordinary, off completely as though he’s nothing. I like that he is this careless mystery devoid of excitement and interest in anything but whatever fleeting bits of intrigue he can find in things. His speech about everything being boring and ordinary people being nothing but worthless leeches to talent is juxtaposed against the fact that to be this person who says such things, Hajime had to strip himself of his entire identity.

A + writing and atmosphere in Chapter Zero. It gets me having goosebumps every time.

-Least Favorite Thing About Them

The fact that I have that annoying thing of getting sad and depressed at his scene with Chiaki’s death. That and that I also adore that scene too because of the angst I’m snorting from it alone.

-Favorite Line

“Ah... how boring.”

If you need anymore, please refer to everything he says in Chapter Zero. :3

-BrOTP

Izuru Kamukura And Despair Kazuichi Souda definitely. Despair Soul Friends! :3 I love the bro-ish destructive art people do of them. Lmao

-OTP

KamuKomaNami (or just KamuNami and KamuKoma separately but don’t make me pick between them!!! They’re so good. I mean... see my Game of Despair comics... I love them)

-NOTP

Kamukura and Junko. Sorry... I just don’t really feel anything towards it. Don’t hate it though.

-Random Headcanon

Something tells me the only talent he doesn’t have is Ultimate Spiky Hair. Just saying.

-Unpopular Opinion

I’m new to the fandom so I’m gonna guess all of you guys got horny for Izuru based on his illustrations and then the anime where he actually has beautiful flowing hair and such. Because when I saw his sprite in game, I choked on my laughter hard. I wanted to slap that shitty wig off my boi Hajime. Just saying. I think we can thank the anime for all the sex appeal he has. Lmao.

-Songs I Associate With Them

Numb by Linkin Park, the 80s remix that goes around tumblr (I like to imagine it plays in his head while the usual dumbassery of DR happens in his presence)

At The End by 16 Volt

Hollow by Yosh (for shipping reasons)

-Favorite Picture of Them

I don’t have a screenshot on me but I really enjoy when he’s placed as a shadowy figure in the distance. Cryptid Izuru is the best!

But here, because it hurts so good:

#danganronpa #kamukura izuru #izuru kamukura #kamukoma #kamunami #kamukomanami #asks #character ask meme #thanks for the ask!#<3

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tundrainafrica · 3 years

Text

Note: Instead of posting a meta or a fic today, allow me to take a quick break from that because I think I really need to appreciate some people here and the fandom overall.

February 7, 2021.

Today, I turned 24 and my boyfriend surprised me with a gift I think I’ll be taking to heart for a very long time.

The story behind the gift was as precious (or even more precious) as the gift itself and I thought I’d share it since it turned out some content creators were involved in this gift and I very much want to express how much this gift has defined this day for me and will place my 24th birthday as one of those birthdays I don’t think I’ll ever forget.

Apparently, I had casually dropped both my tumblr and my ao3 account during one of our conversations and somewhere around November he had started looking through my bookmarks, my posts on tumblr and some of my interactions with people in the fandom.

I should have seen it coming. It had started with my boyfriend suddenly asking about my hyperfixation with Levihan.

Sav? Shipping? Sav? Binge reading ships and meta posts? Sav? Gushing about a fictional ship?

And I remember gushing about this with my seemingly uninterested boyfriend a long night after explaining what was oddly the most out of character thing for someone like me.

I was sharing with him my metas and hcs and maybe, I was dropping a few of my favorite quotes along the way and it turned out he was interested. Suddenly he was asking me about my favorite fics, my favorite scenes. Suddenly, he was rereading my favorite fics with me and a few times, he was quoting those same scenes. I did find out he was looking through my blog when I got a random message from a really sketchy tumblr telling me to open my facebook.

I suspected a few times that he could be planning something. December passed with nothing and eventually he stopped asking so I clocked that as a fevered dream or unnecessary assuming on my end and didn’t think too much of it after.

It turned out my boyfriend had messaged my favorite authors about their fics and he commissioned one of my favorite artists (if not my favorite) to draw a few photos and bound them into a Levihan Anthology

And it feels fucking amazing to receive something like this. To get Levihan which helped me through the worst of 2020, bound forever as a book I can just open up and read anytime. And I guess tearing up at receiving such a gift had me thinking of a lot of things at once (which were always at the back of mind) but I thought of sharing now.

The past year wasn’t easy. Actually. don’t think it’s an understatement to say this past year was dog shit. With the covid pandemic and all plans after that cancelled, I’m sure we can all agree we had our ups and downs.

I had a lot of my own plans completely thrown out the window for numerous reasons. I had plans of going to law school part time while building a career. And, I got a job right after college to make these plans come true. In September the law school I got accepted to (after working so damn hard the past year to get accepted) denied my appeal for night classes. I decided to drop my enrollment to focus on my career. A week later, my job laid me off.

And for once in my life, I wasn’t going anywhere. And I lived in a house where everyone was always doing something and as soon as I lost my job I was pressured to find another one. But as we all know, searching for a job during this pandemic isn’t easy. I was still reeling after having dropped my enrollment just to focus on my job only to lose that job the week after with no prior notice. Everyone around me was busy doing their own thing. I had no one to talk to and for a while, I was falling into this pit of depression.

My days consisted of me hiding under the covers of my bed in between the few interviews I would take day to day. Around that time, I decided to binge watch Attack on Titan as well

I was never one to get hyper fixated in ships. In fact, this was the first ship since Royai and Victuuri which I have been so passionate. And this is a whole new level of passion. I think this is the first time I’ve ever written so much in this small amount of time. It was slow going. Just like Levi and Hange’s relationship, my fixation with this ship was a slowburn.

Those days alone, I was reading fanfiction by the bundle, I was scrolling through the Levihan tag like a simp, leaving kudos in ao3 on a throwaway account and just scrolling through random people’s tumblr accounts.

What happened during the one month? And when I was alone, sad, lonely and stagnant with no one to talk to, when everyone around me was living their own lives, all I had alone in the bedroom was Levi and Hange’s stories to keep me company between interviews.

And the meta analyses and headcanons I had about their relationship were teaching me things. They were teaching me that life was never about how quickly you progress or how far you go. Maybe the real winners in life are the ones who can build good relationships, build relationships so mutually satisfying they keep each other growing and in those few moments reading, headcanoning ships, I did realize, maybe even as stagnant as I was at that moment, my life wasn’t dogshit.

No one’s life is dogshit for a few small bumps along the way. Sometimes it just is part of the process of growing, learning to get past the worse, learning to manage relationships. And maybe it’s these relationships which make life worth living. Maybe it’s these struggles depicted in these stories and the bounce back. Maybe it’s the love, the life, the emotions so carefully described and depicted in every single story which makes life, life.

With every single fic I read and every single fan art I scrolled through. Levihan was teaching my things about love, loss and life.

Sometimes, these fandoms are the things which can catch people before they fall too low into something. These works and stories authors and artists shared so generously were what pulled me out of this state and are what inspired me to explore this relationship for all the potential its worth and maybe share my own stories and headcanons which people may learn a thing or two from or maybe just find some comfort and hope in.

And these inspirations eventually evolved to writing. Writing 10,000 words in a day in between three interviews? I never was a writer but somehow, I found myself spending hours exploring the themes of love, loss and life with our favorite pairing

I didn’t start writing out of nowhere. I didn’t start making metas out of nowhere. I needed the right inspiration, the right content to get me into this point where I could continue writing, reading, meta-ing, appreciating, headcanoning and everything in between.

And I just wanted to express my gratefulness to every single person in the fandom who had made it possible for me to pull out of that blackhole. Fandoms are underrated and I believe there are so many lessons which can be learned from the right content and from the right people.

To the people who so willingly went along with my boyfriend’s little project:

@faerielleart I saved A LOT of your art and they’re sitting in my google photos under a folder called Levihan and maybe I did share a few of your photos (the cheeks one and the beast titan one and the les miserables) ones to my boyfriend unsolicited just to show him how beautiful Levihan can be. Thank you so much for these beautiful drawings.

@lizaloveslevihan You were one of the first people I talked with in this fandom and dreams really was one of those stories that fucked me up a little bit, had me make a few misses on the commute on the way home one day but maybe it did have me explore the angst genre a little more, maybe it did have me explore Levi’s character a little more.

@ariadneamare YELLOW. OH GOD. You know those letters? The ones which Hange left Levi at the end of the story? I ended up copying and pasting them and sending them to my boyfriend right after reading and I remember talking to him about this. We might be facing that same type of story in the future and I guess that ended up becoming a lot of foundation of our discussion and I guess, it’s just proof that there is so much to learn from fanfiction. There’s just so much to explore and fanfiction as a genre just does not get the credit it deserves.

@fanmoose12 I was exploring your works even before I started this tumblr up again. Maybe it was even your works which got me building my own headcanons from Levihan and writing from there. And I think I did leave a few anonymous messages telling you how I started exploring other genres because of your fics. Your works got my out of my dark place, it got me exploring a lot of other genres and for that I’m eternally grateful.

And somehow, my boyfriend picked that all up from late night discussions and one-on-one metas. Surprisingly, he wasn’t just playing along to humor his girlfriend. He was exploring the themes of love, life, loss and Levihan right along with me. (And got spoiled about Hange’s death along the way… Oops.)

And I am eternally grateful for that and I made sure to shower him with a lot of kisses after he kept me in the loop with what has been going on these past few months with his sudden interest in Levihan.

And this huge thank you goes out to all content creators (authors, artists, gif creators, shitposters alike). Sometimes you never know who’s thinking about your work, who’s shoehorning your works and quoting them to their best friends. Sometimes, you never will find out but your work had pulled someone out of a blackhole which they’ve been stuck in and sometimes you never know that your work has been that seemingly small thing that had taught them a lesson in love, life or relationships. Sometimes, that one work turned out to be an inspiration which got them writing and sharing their own stories or making their own drawings

And I guess, the point is, keep writing. Keep drawing. Keep sharing pouring your love, passion and emotions into works of art because you never really know whose heart you touched or whose life you changed.

I have a job now. I decided to push law school a few years back and maybe take the time to work on myself now and maybe spend the next months or maybe years writing metas and fanfictions. I was pulled out of my hole. I was inspired. I have my own stories to tell and I don’t think I would have been here if I hadn’t spent the last few months reading fic after fic, meta after meta, appreciating art after art,

So anyway, I just wanted to share some pics of my favortie fics, immortalized in one anthology, all organized by my boyfriend. And I think he made some great decisions with these.

(Bookbinding credits to @mayerwien)

#levihan #levi x hange #levi x hanji #lyf #life post

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vegetafan72 · 3 years

Text

Valentine Fandom Ask Meme #9

Fandom used this round: Yu-Gi-OH 5Ds

I could potentially add all of Yugioh, but I don't feel that's fair since I haven't finished DM or Zexal yet, am currently still watching Arc-V, and haven't started Vrains. (Not sure if I'll watch Sevens and I refuse to watch GX except maybe the last arc where I hear it gets serious)

Also SPOILERS for the entire show! SPOILERS

---------------------------------------------------------

Your favourite non-canon ship?

Probably Ushio/ Trudge x Mikage/ Mina. I like the cops together; its cute and a better relationship for Mikage.

Is there a ship you didn’t like at first but ultimately started shipping?

Ya know, now that I think about it, I never really liked the Yusei x Kiryu/ Kalin ship, but I'm not so against it now that I reflect on it. Its got some good angst in it, I tell you what. And it feels more likely and interesting than Yusei x Bruno (which I still don't ship).

What is the rarest rare pair (that you ship)?

I'd guess it would be either Yusei x Sherry or Crow x Aki.

For Yusei x Sherry, it seemed pretty heavily implied that Sherry had a little bit of a thing for him. When she thinks of turbo dueling connecting their hearts, she imagines the two of them naked. Yeah, it might just be a metaphor, but she's still picturing him with no clothes. Sherry also seems quite focused on Yusei and, if I remember correctly, part of the reason she sided with Z-One at the end was to prevent Yusei's prophesied death. I'm not sure if its an unrequited crush that is canon or not or if its rare, but I don't see a lot of people talking about it.

For Crow x Aki, I do like them mostly as friends and definitely prefer Aki with Yusei, but I do think Crow and Aki have the foundation to become a good couple. But I think I've only ever seen one fanfic that had them as a ship, so I'm assuming its not very popular.

Name a popular ship you don’t get the appeal of.

Any variation of Yusei and/or Jack and/or Crow so Kizunashipping, Kingcrabshipping, etc. They were raised together as foster brothers so I see them in a sibling dynamic and I adore that brotherly bond for them. There's nothing wrong with shipping them together though since they aren't actually related, so for those who like those ships, go ahead and enjoy them. They're just not my cup of tea.

What is your most fluffy + happy ship?

... All of them have angst... It's kinda impossible to not have angst in 5Ds since it was a pretty serious Yugioh series. I guess Crow x Aki would have the least angst, at least involving them together as a couple.

What is your most angsty ship?

Probably, Jack x Carly for obvious reasons. Carly literally got murdered, Jack agonized over not knowing what exactly happened to her, he finds out she's his enemy, has to duel her and attempts to die with her, has her die in his arms, and admits multiple times that she was the woman he loved, even having that be a big part of his speech in the final duel against Godwin.

And then the next arc they acted like none of that happened which is angst inflicted personally to us through bad writing, not from something that was part of a realistic flow in the story for the characters.

A non-canon ship that should be canon?

Hmmm, I don't think there's anything I ship that I think should be canon. The only thing I can think of is Ushio x Mikage, but Ushio did have a canon one-sided crush on Mikage so its technically not non-canon.

Your oldest ship; the one you’ve shipped for the longest time?

I knew about Yusei x Aki and Jack x Carly for a long time before I really watched the show and I thought they were pretty cute without having much context, so I guess they count.

What ship represents the kind of relationship you’d love to have?

Yusei x Aki. They both have done their best to help each other and they have such a great level of trust too. I feel like at the very end, in that famous goodbye scene, they are so in sync that they don't even need words to express how they feel. I want that level of familiarity and relaxed coexistence.

Is there a ship that makes your skin crawl?

Lua/ Leo x Luca/ Luna. Literally, they are twins, not to mention little kids. I do get that they are super latched on to each other and I've been weirded out by Lua blushing at Luca at least once, but still, come on guys. Its just gross.

What is a character you can only imagine in one particular ship?

Well, the only canon character I ship with Crow is Aki, but I do ship him with an OC I made in the 3DS game, Over the Nexus. So instead I'll say I can only see Ushio and Mikage with each other. Ushio really doesn't have any other options and I don't ship Mikage with Jack, who would be her only other option.

What is your favourite canon ship?

Hnnnn, that's tough because both Yusei x Aki and Jack x Carly are amazing. Hmmm, if I absolutely had to pick one... UGH. I CAN'T. Seriously, I can not do it. I love Yusei and Aki for their support and trust in the other, but then I love Jack and Carly's cute dynamic of big, intimidating guy loves goofy, ball of sunshine girl. Both? Both. Both is good.

Name a ship that deserved more content.

Actually, I think I might have to say Ushio x Mikage here. I really liked the idea of them getting together, but the idea gets sort of dropped after Ushio overhears her trying to confess her feelings to Jack. Maybe it got mentioned or alluded to once or twice after that, but eventually it just disappeared. I also haven't seen any fanart, fanfics, or anyone even talking about them that much. I think they could have made a great background couple and deserve more content.

Is there a ship you feel gets undeserved hate in fandom?

I've seen some hate for Jack x Mikage. I don't even ship it, but I think its hated a little too intensely by some people. It is unhealthy maybe on Mikage's side, but you could easily spin it to not be. I don't think its that bad, its just not for me.

What is the first ship you had?

Again, I knew about Yusei x Aki and Jack x Carly beforehand. I probably shipped Yusei x Aki first.

Is there a ship that made you realize something about yourself?

Nope.

Is there a type of ship you always go for?

Just whatever strikes a cord with me I guess.

Is there a ship the writers have ruined for you?

Freaking Jack x Carly. Don't get me wrong, I still ship it, but the writers just acting like none of their development happened was stupid, poorly handled, and honestly insulting.

Is there a ship the fandom has ruined for you?

Maybe Crow x Sherry. I saw people talking that one up like crazy, but they didn't even interact till the very end and, even then, I didn't think it was anything ship worthy. I mean, she tried to use his kids against him. Crow had more chemistry with Aki in that duel than he did with Sherry. I just don't get it.

Have you ever created fan created content for a ship?

I tried writing a Jack x Carly fic, but I got kinda stuck and wrote other non-ship stuff involving Jack instead. I might go back to that old fic again, but I also have a new idea for a story with them. I may just do both. I also want to do something with Yusei and Aki and Crow and my OC at some point, I just need to come up with something I feel like I can write for them.

I've also drawn Crow with the OC, but only once and was just a doodle to see if I could draw them decently.

Favourite thing you’ve ever created for a ship?

Well, the only thing I've properly created was a doodle so I have to say that by default. Although, I was pretty satisfied with it. lol

Is there a ship you’ll never admit you have?

I... sort of ship Crow with myself. I know I ship him with my OC, but she's not really me; she's her own person. I have a lot of self-ships and I'm always embarrassed to admit to them, but I still do. I can't help falling in love with Crow. You can't blame me; he's absolutely adorable.

Have you ever started shipping a ship because of the fans?

I started shipping Yusei x Aki and Jack x Carly a little bit before I started watching the show because of fans praising them so yes.

What is one scene you want to see happen for all your ships?

Well, obviously they need to get to married and have children and live happy lives together. That's the best happy ending for couples.

Is there a ship you wish you didn’t know existed?

Lua x Luca. Because ew. That and Divine/ Sayer x Aki. I don't know if anyone legit ships that but I have seen it in tags for fics and it disgusts me. I hope its only shown to be a bad thing because that is certainly not a healthy relationship.

Name a ship that ended like you wanted it to.

Yusei x Aki. Yep, I actually liked that last scene between them. I think it conveyed that they clearly loved each other without them having to say it aloud. Words weren't needed. I think its safe to say they got together at some point.

Name a ship that deserved better in the end.

Oh, Jack x Carly! There's no other ship to put here. The writers did them so dirty. He just left her behind with the other two fangirls because 'women are a distraction' and she was just going to wait for him to come back? Dark Signer Arc Jack would never leave her behind. She's 'the woman he loves', REMEMBER WRITERS?! REMEMBER WHEN HE SAID THAT?!

Anyway, I'm freaking salty as hell.

Is there a character you have several ships for?

Aki I ship with Yusei, Sherry, and Crow.

I guess Crow is tied with her because I ship him with her, my OC, and myself.

What is the ship you ignore 98% of canon for?

I mean, all us Scoopshippers ignore the WRGP because of Jack x Carly sucking. I actually don't hate that whole arc, but it definitely has a lot of problems. The biggest one is Jack x Carly just suddenly not being a thing.

Is there a ship you like but you dislike the fandom?

I guess I get a little annoyed with Faithshippers complaining about Yusei and Aki not confessing their feelings at the end (because they didn't need to say it ya'll. They knew), but I don't dislike the whole fandom for that.

#ship meme #ask meme #yugioh 5ds #yusei x aki #yusei x akiza #jack x carly #crow x aki #crow x akiza #anti lua x luca #anti leo x luna #anti crow x sherry #trudge x mina #ushio x mikage #yusei x sherry #sherry x aki #anti divine x aki

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aangsglider · 3 years

Note

Hey so you don't have to answer if you think it will make *discourse* but why is Kataang seen as uncool by even people who shipped it before? I had to unfollow like 10 people who started off Kataang fans and now are shipping them with other people. One person noticed I broke the mutual and asked me why and I was just like Oh you're reblogging non Kataang stuff and I'm not really into that and they said I'd be very lonely in fandom because shipping only Kataang is basic and boring and no one was really doing that anymore.

Hi anon! I’ll answer based on my own perspective and thoughts- Kataang has never been seen as uncool by people from what I’ve seen. It is still the most popular and loved ship along with Korrasami. And that has never changed since the show came out and I honestly don’t see it changing either. I mean they are the two best canon couples of both shows.

I think the only people who view it as ‘uncool’ are just the anti’s who are highly against kataang for...well whatever their reasons are. Like nobody HAS to ship kataang. But creating dumb reasons to go against it is stupid.

But referring to the people who have even shipped it before...I think that just all depends on their taste I guess? They might find kataang bland or boring when it’s really...really insanely far from it. Kataang fits into so many brilliant tropes, their story and dynamics alone are great, the symbolism behind them can serve so much AND their potential angst (seriously anyone who see’s the potential of angst they have is my automatic friend) is top tier. But even with that, there is also the simple fluff side to them- so just their wholesome, loving and caring sides and I just love how they love each other. There are so many sides to kataang and there’s room to explore them. And I can love and appreciate them all.

I think people that ship kataang but still say it’s uncool, might just be a bit oblivious, no offence to them lol. Because like I said there is so much exploration with them. They aren’t just plain and bland. But also maybe it’s just people’s preferences or maybe it’s the fact they want to look for something new which isn’t a bad thing. People are completely free to ship Katara or Aang with anyone else, while also shipping Kataang. Some people just enjoy multi-shipping. I’m not much of a multi shipper myself, I have a few, but I see why people do it. I’ll just take an example for myself: I ship Tokka (as adults) because I personally find S.ukka bland and plain. That’s just my view on it even though I still think it’s a great ship and I wouldn’t dream of bashing it, and it doesn’t bother me that it’s canon. I actually think it’s super cute and I have reblogged some S.ukka stuff. I just find Tokka more interesting and appealing with a better dynamic and much more exploration to them. My reasoning in saying this is relating to those people who you were talking about.

But like I said earlier, many many people love Kataang, it is staying strong like it always has and gains new shippers every day. So no, you’re not basic or boring for only shipping Kataang. You are free to ship whatever you want, whether it be only kataang or every ship there is. The person who told you that was actually kinda rude and had no right to lol so I’d recommend ignoring that because if you’re basic and boring for shipping Kataang, then I guess so is the near enough entire majority of the avatar fandom?? Also, I just want to add on, and this is from my experience- the Tumblr avatar fan base is wayyyy more open to multi-shipping. I noticed that when I first came here. I’m also in the Instagram avatar fandom and the people there are not as into multi-shipping as they are here. So I’d say not to worry about it, and you do you, and just like you did, unfollow any blogs that you’re not interested in anymore.

#anon reply #thanks for the ask #keep shipping Kataang and whatever you want anon #atla

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sanktagenyas · 3 years

Text

ok ok ok so i’m on ep 6 (about to start it) of shadow and bone and i’m not writing this ‘cause i’m full of restraint and don’t wanna keep watching all the way through far from it but i have some thoughts.

ok first things first: darklina. i love them and i think i have to attribute a lot of why i love them so much to ben barnes and jessie mei li’s portrayal and their chemistry which is just on fire. i already like book version (what i’ve read so far at least) a lot so there was a lot to live up to. that was pretty much top priority for me will they do these two justice and i have high expectations for the scenes between them now that alina’s made her turn, now that she knows who the darkling really is.

now there are a couple of changes been made from the book which was to expect but that kinda bugged me. in the book the darkling is very evasive, alina sees him very rarely which makes sense the man ought to be busy planning if they’re gonna go into the fold eventually. and so because the moments between them are rarefied there’s this anticipation to it all and i wish the show would have spaced out their scenes together more so that it would translate. i also personally thought reading the book that the darkling deliberately kept his distance from alina because she unsettles him. she makes him feel things he hasn’t felt in a long time. i always thought that if he wanted to keep her at his side and loyal he could have easily seduced her into bed a lot sooner than he tried to. after that if he’d played his cards right he could have spun her another tale to make her adhere to his plans with the fold. he could have convinced her it was the right thing to do if he really is that good of a manipulator but i always figured his feelings for her were getting in the way of him going that extra mile, hence him keeping his distance.

i got spoiled about his name and i didn’t quite get why she learns about it now. that’s gonna ruin whatever weight that moment has in the books. actually that moment won’t happen now i’m guessing.

also because since i’m being picky i might as well add that i wish this whole talk of the black heretic had gone the way it has in the books. she’s practically having to pry information out of him like his age but here he tells her about the black heretic and not just that but also how he feels about being blamed for his ancestor’s mistakes. i get it, it’s manipulation but i prefer the less open version of the darkling from the book. that version seemed more sincere, he didn’t spin a tearful tale of a boy marked unjustly and decried for his ancestor’s sins. he just said it matter of factly. he lied but at least he wasn’t being a manipulative ass about it in the book. withholding information and outright lies are bad enough but using alina’s own pain for being an outsider/undesirable against her by weaving this tale of him being one too was just a bit much.

but i think it plays a part in a bigger issue i have with the show but more on that later.

i did really really enjoy darklina so far regardless. the more open version of the darkling means that we get to see alina tease a lightness (pun intented) out of him that make him seem younger than he is, more of the innocent boy he once was maybe but then again he reverts back to that calculating cold gaze just in time. lest we forget who our villain is here. i absolutely LOVED the fact that they gave alina more agency and more of an active role in the relationship, i couldn’t be happier about the fact that we lost their original book first kiss post baghra training if it means we get to see alina kiss him first. she really blossomed once she let go of mal i don’t know if you noticed. that flashback of her hurting herself so she would fail the grisha’s test was heartbreaking to see. really hammered home for me why i can’t get behind malina.

which brings us to malina. i’ll keep it brief. i wish the show would stop shoving these two at us like you’d push a puppy onto an unwilling adopter. no matter how shiny and big those eyes are i’m not interested. the use of flashbacks to their common past and to that damn meadow was excessive to say the least and i kept waiting and waiting to feel what the showmakers were intending to invoke in their audience but i must not be the target for it because i just didn’t. there’s an appeal to the kind of ease and fondness that two best friends have between one another and in both their actions (especially mal’s actually, another change from book form) the love is apparent but that doesn’t change the conclusion i reach inevitably when it comes to these two: they are a codependant mess. they let themselves go when they’re not together as if being separated means a fate worse than death, as if they can’t function without the other. that’s especially true for alina. and they both make foolish reckless choices that hurt other people in the process of getting back to one another. but at least in mal’s case he had reason to fear for her safety and didn’t put mikhael and dubrov in harm’s way on purpose. alina’s short sightedness when burning those maps was the one moment i was genuinely fuming mad at our hero.

and then there’s mal. a mal pov means a chance to get to know him better and go from me tolerating the guy to liking him or heck maybe even love him. if i could love mal half as much alina does it would make his scenes so much better instead of being the most boring part of any episode and i’d say natural seeing as he’s also competing with a lot of very lively and interesting characters. i mean kaz is pretty damn stoic and yet i’m never bored by him, not for one second. the issue is that mal’s scenes revolve around alina, his scenes are yet another way to shove malina down our throats and i cannot take it. i appreciate his bravery and his loyalty but his best scene to me is the one with him crying over mikhael’s dead body. a scene devoid of any callback to alina or malina. give him a story that doesn’t revolve around her, give him more to do beside being his own one man rescue team for alina. he deserves better.

now my big fear is darklina related i’m thinking because they made the darkling much more open with alina it’s all gonna seem more deliberate to her, she’s going to not just doubt and fine comb through her interactions with him to find the lie she’s going to be flat out convinced it was just an act from start to finish which means more angst. i hope they won’t go from the heat of these two together to just dead coldness and that they’d keep alina’s pull that she feels towards him. i didn’t forget how she just melted into him against herself when he kissed her again even though she was his captive then and under threat of harm. i didn’t forget how she still feels about him by that point and i hope the showrunners and writers didn’t forget. they don’t need to diminish darklina to push their malina agenda and if they do? well maybe malina isn’t as attractive of a ship as they think it is.

#shadow and bone spoilers #sab spoilers #darklina #alina starkov #aleksander morozova

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galacticlamps · 3 years

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Tagged by @the--highlanders ! Thanks!

How many works do you have on AO3?

What’s your total AO3 word count?

76,200

(oh what a nice even number - I should try to mess that up as soon as possible, shouldn’t I?)

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Aw man is this intentionally worded to be really hard to answer? I get that it says ‘written’ and not ‘posted’ but then what constitutes a ‘fandom?’ I definitely wrote fics for stuff I was interested in long before I even knew the word ‘fic’ - I did it throughout my childhood, and then in high school, and while I didn’t do it as much in college, it still happened from time to time. So a lot of the books/movies/tv shows/plays/musicals I wrote things for aren’t really fandoms, and frankly, I had to check my old folder just now to even remember some of them existed. I’ll just list the ones that I know for sure had fandoms, since that’s more fun (and embarrassing), right?

Obviously Doctor Who, classic and modern, Torchwood, Sherlock Holmes (ironically more of these seem to be about the books, but yes, I will admit, some for that tv show too), Les Mis, a couple different Marvel comics & movies, Good Omens, hell, I even found a Night Vale fic in there just now.

And I know there are other older things not even in that folder, some of which never made it to a computer at all, so if I had to ballpark a number I’d probably say around 25ish but really, who knows?

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Across the Gap

On the Spot

Expectations

Shards of Memories & Fragments of Glass

Itemized

(this was fun, I’d never noticed Ao3 even had a stats page until now lol)

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I try to! Sometimes I take a long time to do so but for the most part, I usually get around to it. The rare exception would be if I first saw the comment when I was super busy/distracted and then felt like way too much time passed before I noticed it again, that it might be awkward if I said something at that point.

I do genuinely enjoy hearing what people think, but I’m also weirdly terrified of making anyone feel like they have to reply to my comments. I know that’s probably a little strange, but it’s actually a large part of why I made this Ao3 account in the first place - my original one, from high school, is followed by some long-time friends of mine who aren’t interested in this fandom, some of whom are involved in art & writing professionally. The thought of anyone like that reading something I wrote out of friendliness or even just curiosity and potentially having to pretend they liked it for the same reasons stressed me tf out, so I like having this virtually anonymous one because I can relax knowing that anyone who reads or interacts with something I wrote has probably done so only because they wanted to, rather than feeling obligated, and there’s no pressure on them to be nice to me about it if anything I write or post annoys them - so I really hope nobody who does just know me as an anonymous blog has ever worried about offending me by not replying to something, trust me, I’m perfectly happy with it!

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I don’t think I’ve really written any angsty endings? I guess the answer would have to be Reckless just because it involves the characters arguing about sad/weighty things and there isn’t really any solution to those issues - but even then I think I ended it with a kind of acceptance that stops it from really qualifying as angst? I also set it in the the same universe as other fics, so maybe that doesn’t even count as an ending? Am I that bad at ending things on angst? Lol

Do you write crossovers? If so what’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Obviously none of the fics I’ve posted are crossovers but I’m trying to think now if any of my WIP’s are - I’ve definitely poached setting/premise ideas from other media, but in terms of actual crossovers . . . I’ve got a few cross-era or cross-Doctor, a few involving Torchwood, but that’s already the same universe, so the only thing that’d qualify as a true crossover would be some vague pieces of a fic where Jamie, Zoe, and Two end up on the Enterprise, since I think the 60s series of Star Trek and Dr Who feel kind of compatible, don’t they? In fact, aren’t there like officially licensed crossover comics or something? Or did I make that up? Idk, and the ideas are very loose, so it’s not much of a WIP either

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Nope, never

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I’ve never written smut, but I’m wondering if it’s possible that could change soon. There’s a longish multi-chapter fic I’ve been working on for a frankly embarrassing amount of time, and the plot does call for a sex scene at one point towards the end, but I can’t seem to make up my mind on how - uh, I guess the word is explicit? - it should get. I know I could easily do a fade to black/implication thing, but it’s kind of a source of contention and anxiety for the characters, so to skip over writing the actual scene and just revisit them afterwards rings of “and they slept together and now everything’s fine!” which feels kinda cheap to me - in this context, anyway - and not the right payoff for a long fic that’s otherwise more of an interpersonal drama/slightly a period piece, if I had to place it in a genre. I feel like my aversion to actually writing the scene might just be prudishness I should get over, or maybe just self-doubt, because I know I’d rather have a well-written, funny, character-development-supporting sex scene than nothing at all, but since I’ve never had any interest in writing a scene like that before, I don’t know if I can do it well, and I also don’t want to ruin a fic I’m otherwise proud of by doing it badly... ugh I have to figure this out

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I seriously doubt it

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope

What’s your all time favorite ship?

I mean, it’s gotta be Two & Jamie. I’ve shipped things before with varying levels of investment, but I’ve never been able to use the term ‘otp’ in a literal sense until I came across them, and now it’s already basically gone out of fashion, go figure!

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I’m not sure if I have one? My WIP doc is huge, but I don’t actually intend to get around to finishing everything in it, so I’d like to think that anything I’ve currently singled out to complete can actually get done.

That said, I do have a few AU’s that I don’t really plan to finish, but it might be cool if I could. Two of them are for all the main + some supporting characters of the Second Doctor’s era - one’s a modern day school teachers AU, and the other is a typical fantasy/fairy tale AU. Another is just Two/Jamie, based on Doctor Faustus (specifically the Marlowe play version) but right now there are two different versions of the ending coexisting in my head. I’ve written parts of scenes & some gen. backstory for all of those ideas, but I don’t know if I’ll ever try to finish them, or what form a finished product would even take - a series of one-shots set in the same universe? one long multi-chapter fic with some kind of overarching plot? And the amount of context/worldbuilding a big AU like these would require might not make them very appealing fics for people to read, so maybe it is better if I just keep them to myself, since in my head I already know what’s going on in those worlds lol.

What are your writing strengths?

I honestly don’t know. I haven’t had a creative writing class since middle school, and since then I’ve only ever shown creative writing to others in a fandom context, so it’s been a while since I’ve discussed it or gotten critical feedback. I suppose when I work in other arts or even academic writing contexts, people usually say I’m kind of insightful or at least detail oriented, which might just be another way of saying I overthink things, but I like to imagine I’m decent at finding little points of interest to expand upon.

What are your writing weaknesses?

If you’ve read this far I feel like you must know what I’m about to say: I do not know how to be concise.

Usually when I’m writing a fic, I put down the dialogue first on its own, leaving out the action of the scene and whatever plot/context led there, even if I’ve already figured all of that out. But then when I go to add those things in, they’re always longer than I wanted them to be. I don’t mind writing something long, but I don’t want my fics to be a slog to get through either, and there can be a point at which the stuff I’ve added for context overwhelms the stuff that I wanted the fic to be about in the first place, so it becomes a structural/proportion issue too. I haven’t completely given up on any fics because of this yet, but there’s one I’ve been struggling with for a couple months now - probably because I’m even second-guessing myself on which scenes need to be written out and which can just be referenced like a recap. Hopefully I figure that one out soon.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

((this is karma isn’t it? i posted a fic last week with two words of gaelic in it and was worried about that and now this is karma))

In general, I don’t want to do it. I feel like you’ve gotta have a really good grasp of a language to write dialogue & speech patterns for someone who’s a native speaker, and since I’m far from fluent in any language the characters I write for are, I wouldn’t feel confident writing any significant amount of dialogue in, say, Gaelic.

As a sidenote, though, I kinda love it when other people do it, particularly for Jamie. Irish (Gaeilge) and Scottish (Gàidhlig) are both languages I’ve wanted to learn for a long time, because my family’s fresh out of living speakers of either & I think that’s a shame, but I started with Irish and at the moment I’m still very much learning it. As different as they are, it still helps me understand parts of lyrics or texts that I come across in Gàidhlig fairly frequently, so when it comes up in a fic I get to feel like I’m being responsible and practicing, and it’s great when I can actually understand what’s being said.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

I’m gonna go with Harry Potter even though that’s probably not a perfectly accurate answer - it’s almost certainly the first thing that has a fandom that I ever wrote for, but it was in a notebook when I was a kid and never something that I even typed on a computer, much less posted online or shared with other members of a fandom. But even then, I’m sure it wasn’t the first pre-existing fictional universe I ever set an original story in, because I did that a lot when I was a kid, it’s just hard to remember those clearly or on any kind of timeline.

What’s your favorite fic that you’ve written?

I’m very partial to Across the Gap, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that ranked first on the kudos thing above - but I’ve also got a soft spot for So Merrily We’ll Sing. It’s so self-indulgent it feels silly saying ‘it was so easy to write!’ but I guess having a fic that’s already just 100% headcaonons and fluff tied together by a song you really love does prevent it from being much of a labor (I also managed to refrain from making that one unnecessarily long, so that’s another win there)

tagging @terryfphanatics and anyone else who wants to do it - sorry I’m bad at remembering whose tumblr goes with whose Ao3 account, but I really would be interested to read this if anyone else feels like answering them!

#oh boy that was long #sorry #also sorry if the 13 is really big for some reason #i dont know how it got that way so i dont know how to change it #it doesnt look like that when i edit the post only when i save it #not fic but fic talk

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