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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine "Past Tense, Pt. 1"

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I think this whole “why can’t men be friends anymore” and being upset about shipping thing is ridiculous.

Shipping has been around longer than the word for it existed. Earliest example I can currently think of is Sherlock Holmes/John Watson which has been around for more than than a century. And there were ships before them.

Also another good example is Spock/Kirk.

You cannot tell me that the only people who read/watched this were teenagers and people in their twenties.

The only reason there was less of an outcry about these was that the fanbase couldn’t be as open about it as today. Homosexuality was illegal in a lot of countries (still is in some) back then and the internet didn’t exist yet but it doesn’t mean that shipping is a whole new phenomenon.

Because Lizzie, you professional unprofessional, those shows are viewed by the correct age demographic who understand what they see on screen and also understand that the relationship between first responders will always be more meaningful and reliant on 100% trust than a High School Musical-esque ensemble.

Meanwhile, 90% of the buddie shipper population are all 15 to 26 years of ignorance, and think anyone over 30 is a "hag" and that Angela Bassett gets too much screen time.

There's a reason why you "cover" these other procedurals yet never post about them on your profiles.

I imagine your dying brain cells are screaming to be utilized.

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What Are Archetypes And How To Use Them!

Character archetypes are one of the many tools in a writer's arsenal to write believable and universally relatable characters which transcend geography, time, and culture!

Throughout this post, I will be discussing what archetypes are, how to use them, and how to subvert them.

What Are Character Archetypes?

What are character archetypes? Archetypes are kinda like templates that are grouped into categories depending on their traits, experiences, and actions.

When thinking about "archetypes", your mind may jump to the archetypes in the major Arcana which represent different aspects of life! Like character archetypes, the archetypes represented in the Arcana encompass a multitude of various traits, experiences, and meanings depending on the reader of the tarot or, with character archetypes), interpretations by the author!

Archetypes are meant to transcend time, geography, location, and the differences between other individuals to communicate universal truths about humanity.

But it's important to use archetypes correctly! All characters require character development and if you don't use character development or there isn't enough character then the characters are going to be flat, boring, and unoriginal.

The difference between "stock characters" and "archetypes" is the fact that stock characters aren't meant to be main characters. Stock characters are the strict librarian that tells the lovers to be quiet, the mean bully that gets humiliated, or the MC's lovingly dead mom.

They are static, flat characters who are meant to serve as filler. Archetypes are the foundation to create complex, changing characters!

Mixing Character Archetypes

Most characters fall into multiple character archetypes depending on the perspective that you are looking at. Mixing character archetypes allows your characters to be familiar but not cliche!

Character Archetypes (And How To Subvert Them)

There are way too many archetypes so I'm just going to give a quick run-by!

The Caregiver

The caregiver is a character who selflessly and whole-heartedly supports their loved ones. They often tend to fall into the Mentor role, the Best Friend role, or something else. It's common to see the Caregiver as an accompanying character to the Hero.

Traits: Selfless, Kind, Compassionate, Honorable, Loving

Pitfalls: Too selfless, tends to lack growth or goals, a bit too dedicated to assholes

Subvert: Caregiver can serve as an enabling force who encourages the Hero or the Villain to follow all of their desires and will force their loved one to deny any healthy accountability for their bad behavior. The Caregiver can be a shallow individual who has a tendency of nearly abandoning the group when things seem hopeless. The Caregiver can show some selfishness

Everyman

The Everyman is your regular Joe-Shmoe who isn't smart enough to be a Mad Scientist but not dumb enough to be the resident Idiot. They aren't particular ugly nor particularly attractive (but they tend to get the love interest anyway). They are kinda average in most respects.

The Everyman is humble and cooperative but not stand out.

Traits: Humble, Hard-working, Grounded, Relatable, Cooperative

Pitfalls: This is the protagonist for 95% of stories. Tends to flail around so much that the audience wonders why they are even needed.

Subvert: The Everyman tends to fall into the Innocent type. Basically, oblivious as all heck and a bystander. The Everyman could be a secret mastermind behind the whole operation and more aware than anyone suspects.

The Creator

Constantly creative and constantly making something. Their creation can be physical (inventor) or in the divine sense. To the Creator, there is nothing that is more important than what they are trying to make, and they are willing to sacrifice themselves and others to reach their goal.

Traits: Obsession, imaginative, strong-willed, egotistical

Pitfalls: The Creator tends to be unsympathetic and not that obviously relatable to the non-creative types.

Subvert: Actually try and make this Mad Scientist or God relatable. Many people have that one thing that they would sacrifice their time and life for whether that be their job, their family, their identity, or their creative pursuits. Connecting that creation to these universal truths will turn your one-dimensional character into a tragedy or masterpiece.

The Explorer

They want to break boundaries, take risks, and travel the world for something new. They yearn for something more than a normal life. They want to find their purpose and they don't believe their purpose lies in the mundane life everyone wants them to live.

Traits: Courageous, independent, nonconforming, driven, curious

Pitfalls: Explorer types tend to be the garden-variety " I want to explore this place". Highly common protagonists.

Subvert: Have the Explorer be a little bit lost in the world. They aren't courageous about their desires and they don't even really know what they want. They just know they don't want to spend the rest of their life here. They are afraid of stagnation. They are afraid of looking back on their life and only being able to feel regret. Make it spiritual. Make it about fear.

The Hero

The Hero rises to the challenge. They can't or refuse to stand by any longer to the injustice surrounding them. They fight the villains.

Traits: Honorable, Justice-Orientated, Strong

Pitfalls: One-Dimensional. "really? another story about Superman going rogue and killing people because angst?"

Subvert: At this point, having a character who is genuinely a good person who wants to try and be a good person is a subversion. Seriously, if you can only write an interesting character when they are evil or "morally complicated", they you are putting yourself in a box. They aren't perfect but they try. That's the thesis statement for heroes.

The Innocent

The Innocent is defined by their unending optimism and naivety with a child-life attitude (if they aren't an actual child). The Innocent tends to be the starting place for a character who will eventually have their comfortable life radically shifted by worldly events until their ignorance is swept away from them.

Traits: Trusting, Loving, Sincere, Open, Powerless, Oblivious

Pitfalls: So innocent to the point where they are obnoxious and not relatable to anyone above the age of 7. "Why is a man who has the ignorance of a child the Chosen One?"

Subvert: What if the Innocent isn't this childish person but actually acts serious? A story could have a character going on this journey to become the Innocent in an effort to get rid of their memories of the horrors of life that they have deemed unbearable. And they succeed. The Innocent could be someone whose naivety about the world often has them acting in cruel and insensitive ways.

The Lover

Ranging from the hedonistic players to the dreamy romantics, Lovers are guided by their heart. Like Creators, they also have an all-consuming obsession and dedication, although, in this case, the object of their obsession is the receiver of their love whether that be a person or an object.

They often overlap with the Caregiver.

‍Traits: Devoted, compassionate, caring, protective

Pitfalls: They often tend to be one-dimensional and horribly problematic.

Subvert: The recipient of their love could be an object, a friend, or a family member. Their love could also be demonstrated as purposefully toxic as their codepedent traits have the potential to intersect with Superior Complexes, Inferiority Complexes, and/or Savior Complexes.

The Rags-To-Riches Orphan

While not always a literal orphan, the Orphan starts in a state of poverty and unimportance who transitions into a life of opulence and excitement.

Beyond that, Orphans tend to fall into Found Families, as a desire for belonging often reunites them with either social outcasts or the Riches group.

‍Traits: Survivalists, empathetic, determined, driven

‍Pitfalls:  Another orphan? Really? Wow, you got picked up off the street and became unbelievablely rich? How relatable.

Subvert: The Orphan uses their skills and resources from their time in poverty to secure power, influence, and popularity from the masses as their relatable upbringing, connects to the underground market, and survivalist mentality leads them to be even more cunning and manipulative than the natural-born. The Orphan isn't as innocent and ignorant as everyone seems to think they're. The Orphan falls from their rich status. The Orphan hates their found family and relishes in the opportunity to leave them.

The Rebel

The Rebel leads the charge against flawed leaders and power structures when the balance of society is threatened. They might be the public head of a rebellion, a charismatic outsider, someone who works in the shadows, or just someone whose another James Dean- knock-off.

‍Traits: Natural leaders, courageous, inspiring, strong, charismatic

Pitfalls: Romancization of rebel groups and abusive behaviors as , more often than not, rebel groups establish a new order that is the same or even worse than the previous group.

Subvert: What if we didn't contribute to the massive romantization of rebel authority and instead investigated how extremists groups can manipulate desperate citizens into horrible governments. Because Hitler was a rebel who instigated a national rebellion. What if we explored the topic of co-option as previous signs of rebelliousness and civil rights are being commercialized for right-wing non-pocs and "rebellious" teens?

The Mentor

The Mentor is the character who is typically off in the corner, training the protagonist with life advice such as "life happens man" and "if you klll a killer, that's somehow worse than being that killer".

Because writers don't know how to write actual wisdom so they copy facebook quotes and look up a thesarus for some "fancy" words

‍Traits: "Wise", caring, patient, insightful, rational

Pitfalls: "Author! Arthor! This a serious topic with a huge diversity of variables and an imperfect solution as humans are inherently imperfect! This advice seems really oversimplified and kinda biased!

Subvert: What if the mentor's teachings are revealed to be heavily biased and based on misinformation which is reflective of the mentor's upbringing? What if the mentor is secretly working with the antagonist to feed the fledgling Hero with false beliefs? What if the mentor genuinely hates the Hero but is still on Team Good Guys?

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I’m convinced if ppl on this site knew how crappy gifs look before you color them properly, they would appreciate editors more

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I hate buses so much. Trains are easy, reliable, straightforward. No nonsense. You can trust them. Buses are evil, deceitful creatures who delight in your suffering

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Ship Sizes

Supercarrier: fandom flagship.  Everybody and their dog ships it.  The fandom is glutted with artwork and fic.  You cannot escape this ship.

Dreadnought: massively popular.  Nearly everybody ships it.  You can, with dedication, in theory, reach the end of the AO3 archive for the ship’s tag, but it’ll take a long time.

Cruiser: pretty popular ship.  Not everyone ships it, but everyone knows about it.  Has a good amount of fic/art, and probably multiple ask blogs.

Frigate: just plain popular.  Feels like it could use more fanworks.  New people to the fandom might not know about it, but they’ll stumble across it sooner rather than later.

Gunboat: bit of a rarepair.  It might have an ask blog or two.  A couple big name fans ship it.  Probably only takes a few weeks to get through the entire AO3 backlog, and one new fic gets added during that time.

Tugboat: rarepair.  Almost never seen except as a side pairing to a more popular ship.  You can usually get through everything on AO3 in a matter of days.  You’ve forgotten what it is to be picky about what you read.

Rowboat: less than a dozen people ship it.  You all know each other.  You exist in an endless cycle of the same five people desperately producing art and fic and one person who constantly contributes headcanons.

Canoe: you are one of maybe three people who ship it, and there’s a not-insignificant chance you’ve never encountered those other two hypothetical shippers.  You spend your days paddling furiously in hopes of keeping the ship afloat, dreaming of the day you upgrade to a rowboat so you can finally rest.

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The best fanfictions i ever read! slow burn by arahir - hob gadling / dream of the endles [ the sandman ]

who wants to live forever? by ranchdiip - hob gadling / dream of the endles [ the sandman ]

just lovers (like we were supposed to be) by bizarrestars - james potter / regulus black [harry potter]

how (not) to meet your son's boyfriend by fifteenminutesoffame - din djarin / luke skywalker [star wars]

unintended consequence by itsmylifekay - roronoa zoro / sanji vinsmoke [one piece]

the rorona fruit by stark_black - roronoa zoro / sanji vinsmoke [one piece]

who did what now? by dancing_homestuck - roronoa zoro / sanji vinsmoke [one piece]

k'diwa: a steamy novel of interspecies romance, by jim kirk by branwyn - james t. kirk / spock [star trek]

part timer by 8ball - roronoa zoro / sanji vinsmoke [one pice]

wrong number by dangit - roronoa zoro / sanji vinsmoke [one piece]

the curse of 100 kisses by fanfictionaddiction23 - roronoa zoro / sanji vinsmoke [one pice]

where there's a will there's a way by xiaq - din djarin / luke skywalker [star wars]

naberrie blooms by zombified419 - din djarin / luke skywalker [star wars]

where hope is persevering by shyowl - din djarin / luke skywalker [star wars]

a sequence that you never learned by annataylor - james t. kirk / spock [star trek]

what the star let in by shyowl - din djarin / luke skywalker [star wars]

facade by hazel_athena - roronoa zoro / sanji vinsmoke [one piece]

what matters by junimokarter - jayce / viktor [arcane]

vitya by applesharon - jayce / viktor [arcane]

mother tongue by nightlilly - jayce / viktor [arcane]

retrograde by hazel_athena - roronoa zoro / sanji vinsmoke [one pice]

so wise we grow by deaster - james t. kirk / spock

always got your back by sydneyxface - roronoa zoro / sanji vinsmoke

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(insp.)

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Another Zosan AU

Soulmate AU where all the pet names your Soulmate will call you are written on your skin.

Zoro just has a bunch of names that all must relate to his hair which he finds weird. Kuina thinks it’s hilarious and teases him about it. Always ruffles his hair which in turn makes him challenge her to a match every time.

After her death he gets a bit self conscious about his hair. He also starts ruffling his own hair as a coping mechanism.

Sanji meanwhile grows up with “twirly brows” “curly eyebrows” “curls” on his skin and he’s upset cause why do the names all have to do with the one thing that he shares with all his siblings?

Who, mind you, don’t have soulmates due to the genetic experimentation.

Will he never stick out? Will he always be part of the package. So insignificant that even his soulmate won’t be able to tell him apart from his brothers?

What he can’t see is the nickname “cook” which is written in the middle of his back.

Then his mother dies and sanjis locked away. Loosing hope of ever meeting his soulmate even starting to think that maybe the names weren’t supposed to be his since there is nothing indicating that it could only be him. Maybe the experiments messed it up.

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THE FLASH (2014-2023)

02x11 (The Reverse-Flash Returns)

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Zosan College Professors AU (or teacher I’m not picky) with the one oversharing and the other being closed off about his personal life trope (I think there’s a name for it I just can’t remember it rn)

Sanji teaches culinary arts (obviously) and Zoro teaches maths (maybe? He’s good at it dunno if he would actually teach it tho. Better ideas are more than welcome) and is also responsible for the kendo team there.

Most students think they hate each other cause they always have fights that most of the time get physical that one of the other profs (read: Nami) have to pull them apart.

Students in Sanjis class think his husband is classy in a weird way and probably works with nature? Specifically moss? Why else would the cook call him mosshead?

While Zoros class knows next to nothing about his husband except that he’s a cook and that in zoros opinion his eyebrows are weird, cause he only calls sanji “cook” and “curly brows” in front of them.

His team has seen Sanji at competitions (to support his husband but shh🤫) but they think he’s there to keep them fed and make fun of Zoro cause “what do you feed them? They need nutrients if they want to win!” (No one has the courage/heart to tell the prof off despite everyone being adults who don’t need to be “fed”)

On the rare occasions that a student has both classes, is part of the team and figures it out, no one believes them cause let’s be honest. Them?! They’d kill each other if left alone in a room for too long!

Anyway this is as far as I’ve gotten with this idea, I’m also not entirely sure what the others would do. Like okay Franky, Robin, Chopper and Brook are easy. (Franky: mechanical engineering, Robin: Archeology, Chopper: Medicine, Brook: Music) but Luffy, Usopp, Jimbei and Nami? No idea. Nami maybe geography tho?

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Read the adventures of Quest Sprout (and friends): https://www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/swords-the-webcomic/list?title_no=198852

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why do yall sleep on ACTUALLY GOOD queer rep shows??

This bothers me so so much because recently a show called Kaos came out on Netflix with some very well written and interesting queer characters, yet i’ve seen NO fandom, NO fanfiction, NO art, NOTHING while still seeing a show with a shit plot-line but decent representation (*cough* heartstopper *cough*) having a lively fanbase? Be fucking for real. Yall need to stop sleeping on shows with actual plot lines and accurate(ish) representation.

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but why isn't tumblr eating up Kaos netflix?

it's got everything! canon old man yaoi, a lot of trans representation, including a trans man as one of the main characters who is complex, desirable, and gets the girl at the end (uh, sorta, but, no spoilers), a succession-level of drama with a fucked up family that needs to be toppled, greek mythology, amazons, the three Fates as trans entities, the Furies as biker lesbians, a WHOLE spectrum of various sexualities and genders as well as great poc representation, a whole spectrum of disabilities, whimsical creatures and frightening, power hungry women... what are ya waiting for?

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THANK YOU AO3 VOLUNTEERS WE SAY IN UNISON

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I personally wanna know who fell asleep first and how. Cause one killing the other only for them to fall asleep and then deciding that a nap doesn’t sound bad and lying down as well is hilarious to me.

I love that they finally found someone who could match the other’s freak