#meta fandom talk i guess

[sisterdivinium]

You know, for a show with so many female characters that so many of us love given how they all get time in the spotlight one way or another and they fill that time up rather wonderfully since they are deeper and more developed than what we're used to seeing in general media, it is peculiar (to say the least) to see so few "alternative" ships to the main one.

I'm not saying the canon ship doesn't deserve its attention -- I'm wondering instead why the canon ship and it alone seem to guide the WN fans who just so happen to enjoy writing/reading fic or fanart or whatever.

You'd think all these cool women would inspire more ships or combinations thereof, but those of us who aren't invested in avatrice just... Float along, around one another, ignored (and, yes, mostly undisturbed too; being unpopular does have its advantages and that includes a lot less weirdos leaving you strange or awkward messages -- it does not, however, shield us from people flooding our goddamn tags on AO3 with fic that has nothing to do with our little ships and I do wish such negligence of the pairing itself meant we didn't have to deal with this spam...)

I am also not saying that fandom activity should be based solely on shipping (and recently someone on Reddit was rather confused by the fact that a lot of it is, which is quite an interesting topic to discuss in itself -- after all, there is more to fan creativity than shippy fic... Or there used to be), merely that, here, it appears that a canon relationship can outshine interest in the other, non-canon ones. It's already there and it was doubtless well-done by the show, so it's natural that it should claim people's attention, sure. It's just that being canon was never the parameter for whether people were interested in these or those two (or more) characters maybe being involved and trying to explore what that could mean through fanwork.

There has always been a complaint haunting fandom spaces concerning the minuscule amounts of f/f fic, art, discussion, w/e based on how few (interesting or sympathetic or relatable) female characters there are in media at large. So what I'm curious about is why fan creations made around WN -- a show that finally gives us a whole cast of female characters that are what we have been craving for decades -- don't also reflect its diversity.

There are alternative ships (I'm here, all happy in my tiny Doctor Superion bubble, and I know there are Camila/Lilith, Ava/Lilith, Mary/Shannon, Mary/Lilith shippers out there, so a warm hello to you if you're reading this), but go on AO3 and compare the numbers of things tagged with these proper pairings to the grand total of WN stories. Better (or worse) still, do so with the "otp: true" trick or simply by excluding avatrice from the search to see how many are left.

It's... A considerable difference. And a mystery, at least to me.

#tagging this as #warrior nun #simply because i'd like to talk about this and maybe some of you have thoughts or theories about it #i just ask you engage in good faith if you do. i'm not pointing fingers at avatrice people i think they're fine and dandy #i'm just -- to reiterate -- surprised at how little interest there is in other ships when the potential is all there #(is it because they're nuns? that never stopped avatrice so why should it stop others...) #(besides lilith is hardly still a nun after s2. bea left. mary didn't really take vows did she? you really thought i was a nun she says...) #meta fandom talk i guess #then again about the nun thing... i have noticed a lot of people just go for aus. i can't recall ever being in a fandom with SO many aus #is the religious aspect an issue by any chance? i also recall someone commenting on how little a part religion played in these aus #curious. very curious. #i imagine some of you are wondering why i care when i don't even read fic but -- #-- to quote jillian salvius herself i am a curious person and well you are a curiosity lol

[balanceoflightanddark]

Here's a friendly reminder that Azula got as good as firebending as she did through hard work. Not luck nor eugenics. She was a prodigy and worked her ass off.

Putting aside the fact that I couldn't imagine Ozai allowing his weapon to get lazy, it's a canon fact that she pushes herself for perfection. You don't get that by being lucky. You get that by becoming the best. And it's pretty insulting to try and tear her down, thus rendering all her efforts null and void.

Maybe this is imposter syndrome talking, but Azula should never be seen as second-rate just because she never beat Katara. Nor should her victories be downplayed. She's the third-best firebender in the series, and she should be respected as such.

#azula #princess azula #azula meta #atla #avatar: the last airbender #i don't know #i guess this sort of discourse bothers me a little #maybe this is just my imposter syndrome talking #atla fandom problems #i guess

[kimkhimhant]

I don't understand why so many people equate a single aspect of a character's personality to their sexual preferences. like pointing to Kim's apparent enjoyment of violence and being like obviously he's a violent dom top.

it feels like toxic masculinity and disturbing stereotyping to say a character who has violent tendencies can't possibly be gentle in romantic and sexual relationships, or someone who has a lot of anger can't possibly bottom or submit to the person they love.

because Kim can kill people means he would want to aggressively dom Chay and would never want to give Chay any power in their sexual relationship? it doesn't make sense to me and it honestly feels like an insult to Kim's character. I don't have a problem with Kim domming or topping. i have a problem with people making that his whole personality when it's Not. the biggest move he makes on Chay is a very innocent cheek kiss, when he absolutely could have done more. to say that the violence he commits to protect Chay= violent sexual dominance is weird!

to say that because he is ambitious & hardened & willing to threaten & kill people who endanger his loved ones, he could never willingly submit to someone - what kind of claim is that? doesn't that make it all the more impactful when he Does submit?

claiming so confidently (and rudely) that there's nothing submissive about him, and that it's out of character to write him as anything but an aggressive and violent dom top really does feel so narrow-minded and insulting. his actions in canon are very much open to interpretation.

the club scene, he momentarily loses control of his emotions: he finds out chay skipped his audition, is at a club, and is being offered drugs. he freaks out and drags chay away, but when chay stands up to him he stands down. he leaves. he doesn't continue to force chay. we can interpret this interaction either as a momentarily loss of control, or as proof that he's capable of force, but again, neither option is explicitly confirmed by canon.

the song, it's implied that he started writing it while he and chay were still together, rather than a post-breakup manipulation tactic. we see him alone in his apartment writing a song while thinking about chay's love song and smiling. it was a love song, written in response to chay's love song, but they broke up before kim finished it.

kim is absolutely capable of violence and force. boundaries are a little blurry for him, especially when he's trying to accomplish something. he looks into chay's phone, breaks into his room, bypasses his being blocked by messaging from a different number. chay also walks right over kim's boundaries. he insists that kim stays to listen to his song (repeatedly), get's kim's address from his friend and shows up at his place, etc. they are pretty well matched in that sense – their concept of boundaries and attachment are both unhealthy.

there is really nothing in canon that dictates whatever romantic or sexual dynamics they will have. i'm frustrated when people act like there are. the image someone presents in public has nothing to do with their sexual preferences.

it feels like a projection of misogyny & toxic masculinity & honest to God homophobia to say that because Chay is sunny & soft, he can only ever be a submissive bottom, & bc Kim is cold & raised to be violent, he can only ever be a violent, dominant top.

again, as a disclaimer, i'm not opposed to domtop kim. i think it's an entirely valid portrayal of him! i support those who write those dynamics! but it's not canon, because there is no canon sexual dynamic for kimchay. sub bottom kim isn't canon either! because there is no canon sexual dynamic for kimchay.

we almost never see kim with his defenses down. he's always on guard and putting on a brave face, except for just a few scenes, like when he's alone writing music and finding chay's polaroid.

i think it's important to recognize the fact that sexual dynamics cannot be predicted by looking at how someone looks and acts in public, and that no interpretations are confirmed by canon and all interpretations are therefore equally valid

#benji talks #kimchay #again #this is not hate #this is not an argument against domtop kim #i support all writers writing whatever they want #i do not support people insulting other people's interpretations and portrayals #i do not support people getting superiority complexes and bitching about what people in the fandom create #kim theerapanyakul #sorry for the rant #i am just really tired of people saying that kim bottoming is ooc #who are you to claim that! #kpts #kpts meta #i guess

[hoelko]

ok, i have a thought and maybe others have already had this thought but i just had it

Supposedly LBD foresaw her destiny, she saw and claimed without a doubt, that she would achieve her perfection.

we all know she wanted that perfect world where nothing bad happens, etc. And that's what she gets. Nothing.

To me then...her preminition, her destiny came true. She's in this "clean slate" state of being, this nothingness where, feasibly, this is the perfection she desired.

I mean the episode is titled Destiny Fulfilled.

#lmk #lego monkie kid #lmk lbd #love the shorthand of this show #but yeah my guess is this is a pretty wide meta already floating out there #look im trying to integrate into this fandom somehow #i see a dr in the morning to talk hands so we'll see but #best i can do is offer show insight and funny monkie screencaps #maybe i should get into video editing

[boinin]

Flairs on /r/BlueLock

A meta commentary/shitpost. I'm not sure which.

For Tumblr-onlys: Reddit allows users to add a flair beside their usernames, much like Tumblr allows badges. Flair are unique to individual subreddit, and only appear when that user comments or posts in that subreddit. The Blue Lock subreddit allows users to set custom text flairs, which may include a selection of emojis or character thumbnails.

This post contains adult humour/explicit references.

I posit that there's three categories of user flairs on Reddit.

The first category is what I refer to as normie flairs.

These include much of what you'd expect, if you maintain the false assumption that enjoyers of football shounen are straight, well-adjusted young men. Many users take this opportunity to represent their appreciation for a particular character (i.e. "Isagi Yoichi"). Admirable, but ultimately boring.

Much like Tumblr has its microcosms and meta humour, so does /r/BlueLock. In flairs, users make reference to fandom in-jokes (e.g. "Red Keys #1 fan", or "#1 Paralympic Footballer" next to a thumbnail of Yukimiya Kenyu). Other flairs reference quotes from the manga that inspire them (e.g. "Shut the fuck up Ness", "There is a monster inside me"). Although edgy in tone, these flairs are still reasonably explicable, should their parents check their browsing activity.

A recurring theme among this user group is a desire to distance themselves from homosexuality. Although excessive gayness is canon in Blue Lock, some users are defiant in their assertion that the series is about ball handling and nothing else. Hence, the existence of flairs such as "Miss Me With That Gay Shit" and "I'm just here to talk football dude".

For these users, the most relatable character in the series is Adam Blake: Mr. "I have no interest in male bodies" himself.

True martyrs. We salute them.

On to the second category.

Again, this is a loose category in terms of content and theme. You may question why I've chosen to differentiate these from the normie flairs. However, while all of these users are expressing admiration for the characters, the way they do so is hornier than a bunch of imprisoned football virgins. They are more worked up than Shidou, when he scores a goal.

I introduce this grouping as… the down bad flairs. There's a lot to unpack. Take your time.

We cannot infer that all the flairs in this group are the result of users biting their lips and moaning whenever a certain character appears. There may be a innocent explanation for why someone would designate themselves "King Barou's Chair" or "Muscle Mommy Kunigami's Squat Bar Pad".

Perhaps they simply kin as furniture.

Users among this group embrace the fruity nature of the series. Although it's untrue to say all Redditors are male basement dwellers and thus, in gay denial. There's evidence that women also frequent the subreddit to thirst over pretty manga boys, using the broadband their parents paid for. At least, this is what flairs such as "Kenyuu's beloved waifu" and "Impregnate me, Shidou!" suggest. There's even straight men present, if "Drinking Anri Mommy Milkies" and "Bachira's Mom's boyfriend" are anything to go by. Forgive them their sins, they know not how to play along.

But cis-heteronormativity is a scourge, something Blue Lock fans understand better than most. After all, no particular gender is required to become "Noel Noa's sugar baby" or "Isagi's personal toe sucker".

In terms of distribution, no one is safe from the thirstiness of /r/BlueLock users. Nearly every character has a thirst flair to their name. The ones that seem to inspire the most unhinged flairs are Shidou "dress sluttily, I can fight" Ryusei, Michael Kaiser ("Reincarned as Kaiser's Wet Underwear") and Bachira Meguru ("Bachira's leaking rosebud").

As the protagonist, Isagi naturally attracts a lot of favour. Some flairs highlight his prowess (e.g. "I love it when isagi shoots from behind", or the more possessive "isagi meatrider get out kaiser"). These users are, unfortunately, deluded. I regret to inform them that there is no universe in which Isagi is a top. He'd be devouring your dick, not the other way around.

To the conclusion. If you are a /r/BlueLock veteran (my condolences), you will have noticed a conspicuous absence among the second flair group. You may be thinking, is this chick blinder than Yukimiya? Can they even read?? They missed the worse ones.

To this I say: Do not cite the deep flairs to me bitch. I was there when they were written.

One image lies below the cut. Unlike the other two, the third category of user flairs has an obvious theme.

However, there is no returning beyond this point. Once you have borne witness to this forbidden knowledge, you will be irrevocably changed. It may ruin your life... or awaken something in you. Either way, a price must be paid.

Consider this my final warning. You may yet walk away from this post unscathed. Even with the words "Devouring Aiku's Hairy Ass" branded on your psyche.

But if you are determined—if you have steeled your mind (and your eyes), open this video in another tab and read on.

Anyone who guessed horny Chigiri flairs, take 1,000 Jeopardy points and a shot of something strong.

I'm not going to invent pseudo-intellectual commentary for this. Y'all came this far, see for yourself. I can't justify some of these, nor begin to explain them—and I write Blue Lock fanfiction. These users are in another dimension of Chigiri worship, one I can never bridge.

Source and references: this

#do not take a word of this seriously #it's satire #or proof of a mental breakdown #reddit lurkers... I see y'all checking to see whether your flair made it. ya nerds #I included my own flair. if you can guess my reddit handle... i'll make a sequel or something #blue lock #bllk #shitpost #long post #fandom meta #minors dni #mine #boinin talks bllk

[flameandignite]

.

#struggling a lot lately with not knowing where i stand in my social circles #there’s an irl friend group i’m part of but they’re more like friends of friends and i have very little in common with them #can’t hold a conversation with normal people bc my experiences are not normal experiences #so i usually just lurk quietly while everyone talks and live vicariously through their fun i guess #i’m a lot more comfortable in online fandom but even here it’s like #i’m not smart enough for meta/analysis i’m not a fanfic writer and my art is like…fine but nothing special i think #and yet my friends tell me they love me and i believe it but i don’t understand it #i’m too empty to offer anything greater than words of support and encouragement #which i suppose are important too. but it never feels like it’s Enough #like i’m enough. and i know that nobody else thinks that except myself but nobody knows me as well as myself

[leatherbookmark]

woke up, hopped on tumblr and almost right away i was hearing things abt "where would you go if tumblr shut down this second"... i don't know what's going on yet but i'm in fear

#shrimp thoughts #like. i guess i'm going to go Somewhere Probably but tumblr is my favourite environment #on top of that tumblr is one (1) website. if X people go to website A and Y people go to website B and Z people go to website C #i'm going to like. try following them -- all? some? -- but i'm going to be very unhappy #because tumblr is for everything! for “augh fuck my tea is so good” and 5k serious meta and gifsets and fanart and liveblogging #and the yes-and jokes and the yes-and fandom discussions and even if you can do one or several things on one of the Other Websites #you can't do them all. could i get used to it? probably! i was a twitter main for years. but do i want to? hm. guess #also i'm terribly shy and don't really talk to people unless my brain's good enough for that because i really don't want to annoy people #so all kinds of fandom/group discords are simply not an option for me. even if i just lurk. especially if i just lurk

[mairen-marionette]

test to see if the pictures are side-by-side, and also to like, have two unused tftsmp characters wo I talk about sometimes back on the dash again lol.

#just testing out the new post editor don't mind me #you know it's pretty neat like thinking about it #how we didn't actually see these two and the skins were unused but are canon bc they were mentioned in their respective episodes #and how one was actually talked about more in canon than the other one but is so underutilized in fandom #whereas the other one (love him to bits btw) basically became a whole like fan favorite fandom oc for like a hot minute #none of this neg btw I just find it really fascinating to think about honestly #you know in retrospect I'm actually glad that they were unseen characters (mostly unseen- the priest got eaten by crops rip) bc otherwise w #most likely would not have gotten the characters that we have made from them #not really gonna tag this I'm just kinda rambling #mutuals who I've talked about this with before y'all get me #I guess this is kinda meta? Idk #I'm tired I need to stop-

[jgnico]

the 'lost fight = bum" thing with powerscalers is SOOOO ANNOYING. Rn with Kashimo, and I saw similar w gojo when 236 dropped where dudebros saying shit like "he got low diff'd trash character" in the comments of stuff not even about powerscaling. Powerscalers act like it's illegal to enjoy a character after they lose a fight. The way they switch up on characters over exclusively loss/wins is such a painfully shallow and bland way to approach the story (and kind of ironic considering how strength is treated in the narrative...)💀

The thing that annoys me the most is that they refuse to think of anything happening in the story that leads to a character losing. Like even ignoring the elephant in the room of Kashimo because Gege practically gave us nothing when it comes to scaling his released form (I would have liked something, but I can also accept that him losing the way he did speaks more toward Sukuna's ability than it does Kashimo's), you have characters like Jogo that they'll call weak, when in reality he's incredibly powerful but had the misfortune of fighting the two strongest characters in the verse as his only showing. Does that mean he couldn't have mopped the floor with most of the characters in the series at the time? Absolutely not, but you'd never get that from the vacuum that most powerscalers seem to operate in.

As someone who enjoys deep diving into fights and the details of the power system, I find it incredibly boring and annoying to not consider any external factors when talking about a fight. There's so many seemingly little things that can lead to a character winning a fight that they shouldn't have from a purely ability-based perspective. Did they prep beforehand? How does their ability interact with their opponents? Are they getting help from another character or a tool? Are they being buffed or nerfed by anything prior to the fight? Are they injured? Were they caught by surprise? Etc, etc.

Take Toji, for example, who powerscalers love to hold up as a powerhouse probably more than he deserves. (Which isn't me saying he's weak, he isn't, but I feel like some people do overestimate him in terms of ability, despite how much the power ceiling has been raised since Shibuya.) Toji planned so much for his mission to kill Riko and his fight against Gojo. He used other sorcerers to wear Gojo out for three days straight before he felt comfortable to step in and still used cursed tools and curses on top of it. Does that mean he couldn't have done anything if Gojo was fresh at the time of their fight? No, but it certainly made it easier. Toji doesn't blow through Gojo as easy as he does without prep, but people will look at their fight without any additional info and use that as a definitive scale of where Toji is compared to everyone else in the verse.

I don't know, I have a lot (and I mean, a LOT) of issues with how a majority of the fandom talks about JJK that isn't just the issue of powerscaling, but at a point it becomes me beating my head against a wall with nothing to show for it but a headache. Like, if anyone wanted to read me rant for a couple thousand words, bring up the fandoms general perception of Sukuna being a bum despite the heaps of info that we have to the contrary. Even the most recent chapter highlighted how ridiculous he is in terms of strength and understanding of cursed energy and sheer ability, but people are still saying he only won because of Mahoraga.

At what point is it not worth it to argue with that? Cause there's always gonna be someone that's wrong and loud about it, but when that becomes the majority of fans about multiple aspects of the series, it starts to kill the enjoyment of the series for me. I don't like being in a state of seeing bullshit takes every time I try to engage with the fandom. It's tiring.

#the woes of jjk gaining a lot of popularity in the last two years i guess #my thing is: if you're gonna continuously blast your opinions out in the fandom spaces and expect people to agree with you #dont be consistently and provably wrong #maybe its because i write meta on top of sharing my general opinion #but its always so clear to me when ppl dont reread the manga at all before they shit talk a character or gege or the story as a whole #cause they'll say shit that just isn't true but people will latch on and repeat it so much #that it becomes generally accepted as true #that's mostly what i have a problem with lol #answers #meta answers #(sort of) #anon #jujutsu kaisen #jjk spoilers #(technically)

[infestedguest]

I know it’s not necessarily rational, but it always rubs me the wrong way when people bash the phrase “don’t like don’t read,” because when I started reading fanfiction in the early 2010s on ffn it was almost exclusively used in the descriptions of fics about mlm pairings because authors kept getting flamed by homophobes in the comments.

#I’ll totally forget about old fandom slang like ‘flamed’ and then I’ll start talking about ffn back in the day and it all resurfaces at once #dldr #fandom meta #don’t like don’t read #fandom history #fanfiction meta #fanfiction history #fanfic meta #fanfic history #ffn #fanfiction.net #anti anti #I guess #tbh I hate shipcourse labels #anna talking about stuff

[sisterdivinium]

It’s the questions that keep us going, that taunt us so we’ll come back again and again, whether we’re given any “definitive” answers which we might each interpret differently or left to wonder and imagine possibilities all on our own.

“I’ve been waiting a long time for this, warrior nun.” Doesn’t this line invite us to ask who Adriel might be talking to, exactly?

Of course Ava currently occupies the rank of warrior nun that gives the show its name… But we also know Ava is not a nun and that her qualification as a warrior is recent (setting aside the psychological fortitude she surely possesses as a survivor of the traumas that have shaped her past, to be sure). Even from his prison, Adriel was aware of the happenings in the outside world, be it from his connection to the divinium once used in his armour, be it thanks to informants such as Vincent in whatever modes of communication they might have had between them — so Adriel knows this, he knows of how unconventional it is for Ava to be the warrior nun. Isn’t it possible that, in this moment, he’s not talking to her, at least not as Ava Silva, the individual?

“I’ve been waiting a long time for this, warrior nun.” Only a couple of months have elapsed since Adriel has been freed of his tomb and made Ava’s direct acquaintance. Why would he make a reference to the millennium spent beneath the Vatican to her while calling her by her title rather than her name? It certainly cannot be a mention of those two months, as those are negligible in the conscience of an immortal being who has already waited a thousand years for reckoning.

He isn’t hinting at a vengeance against Ava Silva, as herself, even if she is the one standing in front of him in flesh and blood; he’s orchestrating a vengeance against “the warrior nun”, the abstract class of those responsible for his captivity in the first place.

It’s hard to say he necessarily sees Areala in Ava when he says “warrior nun”. Perhaps so, perhaps not. But he does seem to see in the current halo bearer an avatar of someone (or multiple “someones”) he intends to defeat, the echoes of the past embodied in a single woman, a vessel through which their voices may yet ring after they are long gone. Perhaps he can see more than any of us can — just as he sees the wraith demons and passes the ability on to Lilith, might it not be possible for him to see something else when he looks at Ava or, at least, in the direction of the halo?

Could the halo, as once suggested to me by @ghostofcatscradle, carry some of its previous bearers’ “essence” — providing one explanation to Ava’s “meetings” with Shannon or Areala in season one — preserving some portion of them even as it inhabits another woman’s flesh? Could that be readily visible to a being of Adriel’s species and provenance, as the wraiths are?

Or could he think he saw something? Adriel is posed as a much more powerful creature than a human, with much more knowledge at his disposal. He mentions how no human can carry the halo for long before becoming somehow twisted — but what if there is truth in the reversed idea as well and his own long stay on Earth has warped him? Sometimes we find that those deemed “mad” are the most lucid, but would it be such a strange inversion to consider that this amazing being who boasts of his greater lucidity might be the greatest madman himself? He barely attempts to solve the contradictions so clear to Ava when she points out how his discourse of wanting to save the world from Reya's oppression is unaligned with his own forceful, violent methods of combat which cause suffering to the same creatures he claims to champion. Perhaps he comes from a pre- or post- logic realm. Perhaps he is insane. Maybe he is just a power-hungry sophist who will use whatever justification is at hand to legitimate his own selfish cause.

“I’ve been waiting a long time for this, warrior nun.” Vindication, yes, but in what form? At the end of season one, Adriel sought to seize the halo, yank it out of Ava and be done with it. In season two, he wants a fight instead of just trying to reach for it and accomplish his goals. Yes, his plans concerning Reya had just been spoiled… But if he had been “waiting a long time”, then this battle is not about what just happened in regards to Reya and the ark. It’s ancient, it’s personal. It’s not just the halo anymore — was it ever?

When Ava resurrects, is that the halo’s doing? When Mother Superion is brought back to life, is that the halo’s handiwork? Could it be sentient as some like to hypothesise it is? Or, as an object said to have been stolen from Reya, is it accomplishing her mysterious will by manifesting such powers? Or could it be that the equivalence between Reya and God made by Michael after a lifetime under the former’s spell is not as true as he was led to believe and there might be another, grander, perhaps even will-less entity pulling the strings?

Or could it be that the miracle is not divine, but Ava’s? Perhaps not even just hers, but something available only to humans, that Suzanne might carry as well, something that recognised her as it recognised Ava while she was brought back. There are no records of the halo resurrecting people…

… But it is said to give different bearers different powers. How or when does a bearer develop a new ability? Is there a limit to how many she can find and use? Might they not overlap sometimes?

Moreover, in an environment that firmly believes the halo is a weapon against its enemies, did anyone ever bother to ask whether it could do the opposite of slaughter, if it could be used for purposes unrelated to war against so-called Hell? It takes Jillian, an outsider to the Order, to voice that curiosity.

For each possibility listed above as far as who is behind performing miracles, what accompanying conclusions might there be?

The halo as a sentient object seems to open less interesting consequences than a world where a higher force has confusing aims or is truly neutral and both favours and hampers the living; or one where even common people, even “freaks”, as Ava calls herself more than once, are capable of miracles, of changing their world given the right support and tools.

We don’t actually need hard, official answers.

It’s the suggestions, the maybes, the could bes that really hook us in — is it any wonder that the more dedicated avatrice shippers are so focused on the potential for that time period spent in Switzerland, off-camera, which we did not witness?

The questions are inexhaustible — even with just eighteen total episodes, even when there was yet so much to see. If we can keep asking questions, if we see the beauty in them and how much more enticing they can be compared to a creator’s answers or incomplete plans (Mary taking vows and replacing Superion, really?!), we’ll have perhaps even more on our plates than another season would have given us. Which isn’t to say we shouldn’t mourn the loss of a continuation but merely to duly cherish what we have effectively received and give it its due attention.

It’s what’s left unsaid or unexplained, it’s what even creators might say isn’t set in stone and still open for debate (such as the halo being sentient or not); the blanks, the doubts and possibilities are where we come in with our understanding or our own stories. Why? How? What if?

Keep finding questions to ask... And Warrior Nun lives on.

#warrior nun #this has been sitting here for weeks on end lol time to post it #my plea so that you don't move on i guess #exercises in observation #sometimes when i express surprise at the amount of aus i see floating around it's because i think the show has enough questions #to warrant fics that hover a bit more close to home. not necessarily canon-compliant but just more in tune with it #if that makes sense. i'd give an example of something i myself have written but #my big au that changes One Detail is yet to be written. it's all in my head just not on paper. #i also express surprise at how little we talk about all of these things and more -- the worldbuilding the lore the what ifs #but anyway. if you follow me you probably knew that already #i suppose this also classifies for that other tag of mine #meta fandom talk i guess

[farginen]

someone once asked me (and i forgot to answer) why royai is called royai instead of royza (i think that was the ship name they said sjdjdj)

basically, the pronunciation of "eye" in hawkeye is an homophone with the word ai (愛) in japanese, meaning "love"

so that's where it comes from.

but since we're on it, i'm actually very much partial to the chinese name 焰鷹 (yàn yīng), meaning "flamehawk"

especially since even though the author is japanese and the manga is originally written in japanese, there's actually not a single inclination that the japanese language even exists in the fma universe, at least not that we know of! (other than the name izumi, but then again the only other super background character with a japanese name is literally a white guy so 🧍🏼‍♀️) english is technically the official amestris language (although realistically it would be some kind of english/german hybrid / an alternative descendant of proto-germanic)

but we do see characters that are very obviously that speak and communicate with each other in chinese, so i'm guessing if someone wanted to refer to royai jokingly in universe à la brang*lina they would go for a made up variation that makes sense in amestrian, like "royza" (this sounds so funny to me), or for something like 焰鷹 in xingese rather than "royai"

#this is obviously for my crossover friends im sure everyone in the fandom knows this 😂 #basically royai is for meta ooc commentary not a word that they would use in universe #i guess u could technically use royai in chinese as well since the jp word and kanji come from ài in zh so the meaning is the same #but i dont think it works the same bc the pronunciation is a lil different. even more so in cantonese which is closer to classical zh #that's what i'm assuming xingese in fma would be the closest to as a irl reference anyways #anyways flamehawk goes so hard i just wanted to talk about that #ooc. #i don't think this counts as a headcanon idk #long post

[rubywolf0201]

Me reading the post even tho I never talked or say anything BSD-related for many months and counting:

#rubi’s post #meta #salt #discourse #if ppl often wondered why I hated the BSD franchise lll show them this #goddamn it I never talked about this guy for a long time and I’m getting shit for this #it’s really hard to find good d*zai stans when there are immature ones out there #oh well…. guess that’s what being in a controversial fandom feels like #now I understand how people felt when they’re in these type of fandoms

[dreamersscape]

Does it feel like life is permanently set to extreme hard mode and I still feel super crappy greater than 90% of the time? Yup. But! Emboldened by our relative success with last year's tomatoes, we have given it another go and have added a little pepper plant friend for them. :)

(It may look like the peppers aren't doing as well as the tomatoes, but it cannot be overstated just how bananas this plant's growth chart has been; it's determined to escape the confines of its basket-cage; it has to be constantly rotated so it doesn't completely lose the battle with gravity; I only took this picture the other day and it already looks SO outdated. Can't stop, WON'T STOP.)

#anyways the plan for today is to make some good headway on my 'correspondence' so I guess we'll see how that goes *sheepish laughter* #don't worry I'm not guilting myself over my ridiculously sporadic ability to socially engage - #(not much anyhow I swear!) #- it's just you guys have no idea how much I've MISSED y'all! how I've YEARNED to be able to geek out with you'uns over the blorbos and #their fictional worlds. Like. Please picture me gazing longingly into the middle distance while sorrowfully belting: #🎶 I wanna beeee where the (tumblr) people are. I wanna see... wanna see 'em meta-iiiing! 🎶 #🎶 frolicking around in their - what're they called again? - oh right! plot bunnies! 🎶 #🎶 incrementally crawling your way through your backlog of content to consume and unexpectedly stumbling your way #into a few new hyper-fixations while the already-there ones continue to rage on you don't get too far... 🎶 #🎶 posts (and reblogs and messages and actually finishing a few of your fan creation projects and...) are required for jumping (into #fandoms); dancing (with your friends in gleeful delight over your shared headcanons)! 🎶 #🎶 [...] up where they talk (to each other at normal intervals)! up where they (don't) run (out of energy so fast)! 🎶 #🎶 up where they stay all day IN THE SUNNNNNNNNN 🎶 #🎶 wandering free. wish I could be. PART OF THAT WOOOORLD 🎶 #I could go on but I think you get the gist of it 😆 #and I definitely know I'm not along in this feeling; at the very least I'm sure that is a familiar tune #in many contexts for anyone else struggling with chronic fatigue/illness among other things #I just wish I could find a better way to intermingle extending kindness and patience to myself and rolling around in fictional character #feelings /together/ with my friends without having to insert such long gaps in between you know? #okay woebegone rambling aside thanks guys for not forgetting about me while I've been gone <3 #and let me assure you I haven't forgotten you all either 'cause boy do I need to SHARE SOME STUFF with you! #random musings of a personal nature #I JUST WANNA BE THRIVING HALF AS GOOD AS THOSE TOMATOES YA FEEL ME?

[a-flickering-soul]

girlie, why are you so angry....

Hey, thanks for sending in an ask! I really do think Rabbit is specifically a really interesting character to me personally specifically due to the way she subverts the revenge fantasy character. I really love revenge fantasy characters (specifically queer revenge narratives, which I'm sure if you were here circa winter/spring 2021 you would remember), and when I initially read Red Core (or what's published of it now, anyways), I was both delighted and confused because?? Rabbit has pretty much all the components of a queer revenge fantasy character but?? There is no revenge to speak of??

To elaborate, Rabbit is a very interesting character because her backstory is elaborate on the scale of "oh you're someone's special little OC and everything happens to you because your author loves you so so so so much and also you're a reflection of your author" (I say this lovingly because I do the same thing). Very briefly, she was forcibly closeted by her father/creator, physically hurt by him, and told to drop the subject of her gender and gender presentation or she'll be disassembled (if not in as many words). Despite this, she loves her father, and out of all of her siblings she is the only one known to actively still mourn him and honor his memory. More than a century later, old blueprints were found by the descendant of her creator confirming what Rabbit had been barred from saying all along--that she sure was a girl! And deserved to be seen as such! And--the rest of the details we don't know yet, only that she was able to transition and be respected and loved in truth.

I say Rabbit is a subverted revenge fantasy character purely because she has no desire for revenge, despite the abuse she underwent and the lack of...not so much closure, but apologies and acknowledgement that she was hurt, and she was made to be ashamed and silenced, and reassurance that none of it was her fault. Initially, (taking Red Core as a complete work) I was left a little nonplussed at the lack of rage and anger and hurt I saw on Rabbit's end. As a known revenge fantasy enjoyer, I really wanted to see her have that realization that she was allowed to be angry and hurt and that she did get hurt by someone she trusted implicitly. But the more I thought about it, and then about Rabbit as a whole, the songs she creates and the persona she puts on onstage, the more I realized she doesn't need a revenge arc and in fact she doesn't want one either!

One of my favorite pieces of character analysis when it comes to Rabbit is that she saw the century of enforced silence and closeting and misgendering and decided to let it go. She has no reason to want closure from another person when she found it herself. She took her flaws, the damage done to her system, her malfunctions, and built herself around those imperfections. Her stutter after Peter Walter I ripped her jaw off, her core power fluctuations after it was cracked and stolen, her own identity as a trans woman--all of these things are core parts of who she is now. They appear in her songs, her stage presence, in everything she does. And she is lighter for it. She chose to put down the weight of the past 118 years and chose herself instead. She chose to make the errors that deemed her faulty core parts of her personality. She chose to be silly, and weird, and dumb, and to make other people laugh. She subverts the queer revenge fantasy trope in choosing internal closure, rather than external, in a way that feels not only satisfying narratively, but character-wise as well.

#in case you're new here i take asks that are lame and dumb and use them to talk about stuff that's cool and epic #spg #flicker's meta #answered #anonymous #im FULLY aware i'm deepifying rabbit but truly truly i know in my bones bunny bennett wants me to do this #anyways. i'm angry because i saw transmisogyny on my dash. hope that helps <3 #this meta has almost definitely popped up in the fandom c.2015 probably when spg was really big but it's fine #anyways lmao guess who my favorite member of steam powered giraffe the singing musical automatons is #happy pride! this robot is trans and loves women!

[snowimatsu]

???? DAYOON ????

#me talks #i forgot and then i remembered this was how u spell his name (supposedly) #I'm glad the English fandom never picked this up bc aadfghjkk #1st image is from 2016 game hachamecha party #2nd pic from 2021 fesmatsu event f #so this isn't anything new ig 😭 #dayon #meta #(i guess technically)