#(in all seriousness this post is partly a joke but if anyone wants to ship w daisy hmu)

[antihcroes]

look at this gorgeous gorgeous girl, i think u all should consider dating her, marrying, wife-ing her up bc just LOOK AT HER

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for not wanting to talk about a fandom with a friend?

We've been friends for 6-7 years, but we're not close. Just your regular internet friendship where we both have close friends and seperate friend groups, but us two were in the same fandom initially and that's how we know each other.

She's in a lot of fandoms casually but her ult fandom is massive, I'm in a smaller but still big fandom. We're both fandom olds, we both know fandom etiquette and behavior, we're both adults with our own lives etc. Please don't assume we're unattended teens in a petty fight.

We have both shown interest in each other's fandoms, we both understand we can't be more involved there than we already are. That's all fine.

I used to talk about my fandom with her initially, about 2 years ago, but I gradually stopped since she's not that interested and I have other friends to talk to who are already into it. Besides I have a short social battery, so I don't *need* to talk to everyone all the time.

The issue is: After not showing that much interest for months and me not talking to her much, she's trying to talk to me about it now. But all she sends me are theories from people I have blocked or people dragging this media and expecting everyone to laugh with them, outlandish mischaracterization, hot takes that are just fans insulting the creator over their own piss poor reading comprehension, memes that have been done to death etc. All in all it's things my fandom friends and I are sick of.

And it's particularly bugging me because my friend here faces and rants about the same shit in *her* fandom! She gets my issues with mischaracterization or creator bashing etc same as I do with her! But it's as if she never paid any attention when I said 'This and This are untrue or hurtful' or 'I hate when This is said' or correct her on anything that from insider pov is borderline offensive. Ofc I wouldn't expect her to know... except I *have* told her many times and I share a lot of posts talking about it so anyone following me would have a general idea even if we never spoke?

This is partly why I stopped talking to her about it because for the last full year and some more, every few weeks she brought up the same bad fanons. And after I debunked them she said 'Oh that's terrible!', then after a couple weeks same old same old. Ofc that's really frustrating.

We stopped talking about it like I said, but she's now back on it and I'm not reciprocating. When she wants me to look at her memes or talk about the ships I make it clear that I don't want to do that. She has other friends from my fandom who are into those tired takes she shares, she's not speaking into a void. I'm free to talk about anything else but her behavior for over a year is pulling me away from her tbqf.

I feel like I'm being a bad friend, it's just fiction. But she takes her own fiction just as seriously and rags on people she disagrees with way more than me. So I don't know, I like my friend but I hate talking to her about anything fandom related. Did I make it bad for myself by sending her things in the beginning when she was probably saying odd things to signal she wasn't interested? I think so.

PS: If any of you think about replying with 'Eh who cares fanon is fun, take a joke' etc, control yourself. Thank you.

What are these acronyms?

[littleprincefan]

oh my god i made that post about sarah from labyrinth and neil from dps and in the tags joked about them being siblings but now im thinking about it seriously……… guys hold on

neil and sarah being siblings with them both having a thing for acting and being rlly rlly close until neil is shipped off to welton

their dad (mr perry evil evil evil) is very strict but is harsher to neil bc he expects more from him and neil Knows That and uses that to keep mr perrys anger away from sarah

neil told sarah about the play and she was rlly happy for him and promised him that she wouldnt tell anyone . when mr perry found out he pressed her to know if she already but she stood her ground and said she didnt know

charlie knew her for a long time (being neils best friend and all) and loved her like a sister (hed never tell neil but she was his favourite perry sibling. if neil knew hed get Jealous (not really) that his sister was stealing his friends). sarah found him really funny

neil was the one to gift her the labyrinth book as a birthday gift and she got him a shakespeare anthology for his

ANGSTY BITS INCOMING

sarah went to see his play and sat with the poets (that was the first time she met todd, immediately liked him because she knew how much he meant to neil. they had a really nice chat). she was clapping the loudest out of everyone (except for maybe charlie)

when mr perry saw she was there he was even angrier. when the four perrys sat down to talk in the study neil made sure mr perrys rage was directed at him since she had no fault in anything. sarah tried to defend neil when mr perry told them he’d pull neil out of welton but neither of them managed to talk him down.

sarah tried to stay with neil in the study after the conversation but their mother made her leave him alone, thinking that’s what he’d want

she was the first person to hear the gunshot and the first to get to the study (she knew exactly what had happened)

sarah tried to get her parents to drop the blame from keating but they didnt listen. she found out charlie was expelled and was enraged.

after the divorce her dad remarried, and they had toby -> enter labyrinth storyline

she was so angry to move into a new house and have a new sibling because of neil. she wasn’t supposed to be the eldest sibling. her brother wasn’t supposed to be younger than her. he wasn’t supposed to be blond, and his name was supposed to be neil, not toby.

she was so attached to the labyrinth book because it was a gift from him. she wished toby away partly because she wanted her older brother back.

enter the goblin king.

he’d probably know part of sarah’s wishing away of toby has to do with neil, and he’d definitely use it to manipulate her in the labyrinth.

maybe shed even see a bit of puck in jareth and be torn

after rescuing toby she would be a bit more ok with being a big sister, and know that even tho she lost neil toby isnt a replacement, and she would tell him all sorts of stories about their brother

i have many thoughts as you can see

[lovee-infected]

So Merlin the goddamn great, smh but no ROOK LORE I AM FURIOUS! I STILL WANT TO HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS

Warning: Spoiler alert!

Oooooofff the final episodes of chapter 5 did seriously explode the fandom I see, from the overblot Grim to our twst Merlin, everything literally everything about the end of this chapter was a big surprise but... This chapter has also brought up a considerably huge wave of drama along with it, which is basically because of Rook voting for RSA instead of NRC. I, personally, considered it to be just a reason to laugh and make a meme or two about this chapter and all. But looking at the fandom, I can clearly see that it's been causing some serious consequences, some fans/creators are leaving the fandom, there has been a couple of offensively worded Rook hate posts (small memes and jokes aren't counted) and there's ever a #RookIsOverParty on Twitter now.

Okay but, it was all cool and chill until it was just a joke. Can't you see? This happens in many fandoms! And is often a good chance to laugh! But...This is getting serious. A huge majority of this fandom (even Rook/Vil shippers and Rook stans themselves) are hating on Rook/Rook stans and fans are leaving, therefore I believe the situation needs to be clarified before it leads to more dramas.

Many of you had also requested a Rook analysis before sooooo- here we go!

First off, this episode did eventually give us a considerable amount of Rook lore although it wasn't as perfect as we wanted it to be. Most of us wanted to get to know him more, but I'd say focusing on all we've got already would do for now. But before that, let's talk about what exactly happened in chapter 5 and why are fand hating on Rook rn:

after the performances are voted on, it’s revealed that nrc lost to rsa by just a single vote. that vote turned out to be rook, who voted for rsa in favor of their own team as he was moved by their spirit. the whole nrc team is shellshocked (of course) and vil faints

it’s also later revealed that rook is one of neige’s biggest fans, possessing albums full of his bromides, going to each meet and greet, and even writing him anonymous fan letters.

Okay okay I know this was quite unexpected and resulted in NRC's loss, but before you say how much of a shitty character Rook is consider this:

1) He was totally honest with his opinion and thoughts.

One of the interesting facts regarding Rook's character design and presence in chapter 5, is how he played the role of both the huntsman and the mirror.

He was honest with his beliefs and decision, although it was against his friends. Just as how the mirror introduced Snow White as the fairest one of all although Evil Queen didn't want to hear of her.

This is also what Rook did, he judged based on his idealistics towards beauty. NOT because he's a screaming Neige fanboy and NOT because he disliked Vil.

Honestly, if there's one person whose judgement would be strong and on point, that'll be Rook and only him; in parts (2) & (4) we'll explain why.

2) His decision has nothing to do with his personal relationship with Vil!

Yes, he voted for RSA, but to assume that this means he secretly preferred Neige over Vil all this time and call him a betrayer now, that's wrong.

Look, if there one person who could judge NRC's process through the training sessions fairly, that'll be Rook. He's been there all this time, watching each and every second of Vil's coaching and team's progressing, note that he also helped Vil the most, this performance would've been impossible without his help!

But, he was also there when Vil lost it, when Vil's fear of not being the winner took over him and made him even try to poison Neige. At some point Vil was nothing like the perfect coach he was at the very beginning, and if Rook hadn't told Neige to escape who knows how terrible the whole think might've gone.

His decision, on the other hand, was HIS decision. He was asked to choose one performance, and he chose what he liked; that's all, no big deal. Note that the silly thing with the whole issue isn't mainly how Rook voted for RSA, it's also about how half of the audience as well voted for RSA which makes it sound almost stupid, this point will be explained in part (5)!

3) Have you all really forgotten what Rook is like?

I mean, come on this is what he is in general! This is Rook Hunt we're speaking of, one of the rarely known characters of the game and mister of surprises and unpredictable decisions!

Him being a Neige fan is no big deal, and I assure you, he probably stans a lot of other people else than Neige too. Don't forget that this is the same monseiur Rook who gave 100 points! to anyone who participated in NRC's VDC test, so there shouldn't really be a panic taking all over the fandom just because we know he stans Neige, Rook is one to greatly appreciate the concept of beauty in general, and Neige is one of the most famous and beautiful people in the whole twisted wonderland, so other than this being much of a snow white reference, it was totally expected to see him stanning Neige as well. Keep this in mind that just because he's a fan of Neige, it doesn't mean that he hates or he has betrayed Vil.

In Rook's point of view, there is no such thing as rivals in beauty, he just appreciates both Vil and Neige's beauty regardless of what's going on between them.

4) This chapter proved that Rook is indeed a perfect friend for Vil.

While there hasn't ever been a mention of a canon relationship between Vil and Rook, shipper may be happy to know that this episode didn't sink the ship at all. And if you judge and see through what happened in the right eye, you'll see it even shows how strong their friendship is.

Note that this wasn't the first time Rook criticizes Vil either, back in Vil's SR lab coat story he openly criticized Vil and said he's gonna get fat if he continued to eat like this. See? Rook never the once lied to Vil, he openly judges him, and his judgements are logical and on point.

Vil on the other hand is always working his hardest to improve, to become better and completer by each and every day that passes. He needs such a friend by his side to judge him nonetheless, a friend to judge him just like the mirror judged the Queen. But there's a difference, Vil accepts and appreciates criticism BECAUSE, he wants to improve.

A friend like Rook is seriously what he needs, Rook supported and helped him all the way as RSA was getting prepared for VDC, he could've just made them lose and by ruining their training sessions if he wanted to! Can't you see? He helped Vil more than anyone else, but didn't lie to him when it was the time to judge. Vil still has a long way to go, and Rook is aware. He wants Vil to see that he isn't yet complete so that he can become better than he already is.

That's it, that's what a real friend would do.

5) Twst needs to be more considerative toward story line and sudden reveals.

On the one hand, it's mainly fans who are exaggerating the whole issue and starting drama over a simple voting and all, but twst itself as well is partly guilty. This is such a huge and active fandom, each and every detail about the story can be super effective (ex: Sebek being half human, Malleus being an orphan, etc). After making RSA's Yahoo performance look super silly they worst thing they could do was to make NRC lose like this, meaningless, silly and helpless. Why?

Twst seriously needs to take details more seriously as they could've AT LEAST made this comparison sound reasonable by choosing a better and stronger song than a twisted version of Heigh-Ho.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with Rook voting for Neige, but seriously? Rook voting for Neige had to be a symbol of honesty and Rook's loyalty toward the concept of beauty itself and not Vil, not an stupid decision to make Rook prefer a childish song over NRC's wonderful performance and look like a helpless Neige fan boy.

-Sigh- Well, I guess that's all I had for now, hope I didn't miss anything. But anyway, the Rook drama is slowly getting overwhelming. There's nothing wrong with memes and jokes AS LONG AS THEY'RE JUST A JOKE- offending characters with clear intention and causing drama because of it is not okay. I know that was unexpected please remember not to exaggerate the story too much either!

[dying-suffering-french-stalkers]

For the ship game: prime numbers for Lupin x Jigen!

HERE YOU GO GHOST, THIS WAS FIVE PAGES IN A GOOGLE DOC AND TOOK ME SEVERAL HOURS

Under a cut, allegedly, though mobile has been known to just IGNORE THAT. Sorry in advance if this gets goofed for anyone.

2) Who is always horny and will have sex at any time, in any place?

Lupin, obviously (and canonically). Just the horniest man you ever did see. Jigen knows what he wants and when he wants it, but he has difficulty keeping up with Don Juan Triumphant over there. Lupin is also far less picky about locations and times than Jigen is. Jigen still has a FEW standards, thank you, and also a stronger sense of self-preservation. Lupin sometimes tries to start shit in public or during a heist and Jigen is like “I REALLY, REALLY APPRECIATE THE SENTIMENT BUT CAN WE NOT.” The closest to public anything Jigen will put up with is bar bathroom/back-alley hookups, and he doesn’t really tend to do that with Lupin or Goemon since they have secondary locations far more suited to such activity (or at least the damn Fiat, if nothing else). That said, Jigen is a spiteful bastard and gets a huge kick out of riling Lupin up over the walkie-talkie during jobs. He is more than happy to get jumped by his boss after they make it out and secure the loot.

3) Who is more into taking showers/baths together? Who tries to make it relaxing and who tries to make it sexy time?

Honestly, while I can totally see Lupin and Jigen doing this with their other partners, I have a harder time imagining the two of them doing this together and I’m not sure why. I feel like these two on their own both like the privacy bathing gives them, whether it’s to clean wounds or decompress from a job.

On the occasions when they do bathe together, I feel like it’s an unspoken kind of thing, where the other person quietly slips in the tub/shower with them and they just don’t bother protesting. I think Lupin is more likely to join Jigen in his bathing, but if Jigen is sleepy enough or lonely enough he might do the same. There is a lot of mutual appreciation of scars. They’ve definitely smoked in the tub before (Intricate Rituals™). Lupin is probably more likely to get handsy, because Lupin, but two can play that game if Jigen is feeling it, and also Jigen gives Lupin a run for his money in the staring department. No hat to hide behind now.

Lupin has also 100% done the whole “Hey Jigen, do you know if—stop screaming, it’s me—do you know if we have any more instant dashi? Goemon’s gonna slice up the sofa if I ruin soba night again.”

5) Who sleeps on the couch when they get into a fight?

Jigen, but to be fair, he canonically sleeps on the couch most nights (possibly to keep an eye on the door, possibly because he knows that place, at least, is always “acceptable” for him to occupy). It’s an odd night if you don’t see Jigen out there with a glass and a bottle of scotch and an old movie on TV. The main difference is that if he and Lupin have been fighting, he won’t bother with the formality of a glass and the TV will be playing far louder or not at all.

7) [A] Who said “I love you” first? And [B] who ends their arguments in a fight with “Because I love you”?

I hate to take the coward’s way out here, but I think the answers are A) either one - depends on the headcanon/fic/version of the characters I’m feeling that day, and B) both.

For A, they’re both the sort of people to show their love—true love/affection, not just flirtation/infatuation, LUPIN—in action, not words. Lupin is a man of many words to a fault, generous with his verbal and physical affection, so Lupin has to find a way to make sure Jigen knows he means it and how he means it. He may rightly fear that Jigen won’t believe him (or else believe him but take it platonically) if he says “I love you” to his face, so first he’ll show him through every little action he can. Jigen is a man of few words to a fault, so saying personal stuff like that out loud is both a last resort and the point of no return. Getting him to say it at all, unambiguously, and while sober is like pulling teeth. Once one of them finally spits it out, though, I think the other is quick to reciprocate (again, if they manage to say it clearly and under good circumstances and not ambiguously/while drunk or wounded/etc. They’re both idiots and selective cowards so this is a big if). The mutual relief is palpable and immediately followed by sex, because they’re both (horny) idiots and selective cowards who do not want to talk about Emotions and Personal Things any more than strictly necessary.

For B, ohhhh man, if it isn’t that same emotional avoidance coming to bite them in the asses! Looks like talking about deep emotions is strictly necessary after all! You know it’s a Big Important Argument for them if this is what it comes to. This is going to tie in somewhat to the answers for 11, 17, and 23, so stay tuned. “Because I love you” coming from either of them should give the other pause, but if they are angry enough, they’re both quite likely to storm off after that declaration anyway. They’ll come back and have a real discussion later, but the shock or frustration of that arresting declaration dropped in the middle of an argument is something neither of them are great at dealing with. Hearing that from Jigen might be enough to stop Lupin in his tracks, but Lupin might also be so dead-set on something that he’ll steamroll right over it even if he knows he’ll regret it later. Hearing that from Lupin probably only makes Jigen angrier because of his awful self-esteem (see answers 11 and 23), and even if he’s been working on that, his instinct will be to snarl “Yeah, right” and storm out the door. I like to think that one day they are able to get to the heart of the argument sooner (because this is almost always it) and work on the behaviors that worry the other so much, but alas, they are a mess.

11) Who makes fun of the other for having a crush on them, and who has to remind them that they are in a relationship?

Once again, either of them depending on the day.

As you mentioned in your JiGoe post, Jigen says it partly because he thinks it’s funny (“You have a crush on me, Boss? Fuckin’ embarrassing”) but also because he’s fishing for validation. His self-esteem/confidence in anything outside his shooting skills is shit and he still can’t quite believe that Lupin isn’t lying/he hasn’t conned Lupin into something. This is rather overestimating his conning skills and underestimating his many good qualities, but, well, genuine, lasting affection is kinda new for him. Much to Jigen’s annoyance, Lupin figures out exactly what Jigen’s up to after the first few times and answers him seriously (and positively) instead of continuing the “joke”. Lupin loses patience for this particular tactic over time but I like to think that Jigen finally begins believing in the affection, too, so it comes up less and less and one day Jigen might actually play the quip straight without the self-deprecation. Ideally he would just take the damn compliment, but it’s LupJig and banter is one of their love languages.

When Lupin says it, he typically is playing the quip straight and fondly giving Jigen shit for showing an Emotion and motherFUCKER I just realized Jigen could probably be considered a tsundere. I hate this. ANYWAY. Jigen then immediately snarks back that yes, Lupin, considering we’ve been travelling the world together and actively fucking for X years, it’d be damn awkward if I didn’t by now.

13) Who initiates duets? and who is the better singer?

Lupin absolutely initiates duets, or rather, he tries to; whether or not Jigen actually chimes in is another matter entirely. Lupin is also the better singer by far (when he’s sober). He loves singing along to pop and rock in the car (“This is the reason God invented America!”).

Much as it would please me personally to give Jigen a smooth operatic baritone, there’s no way in hell he sounds good after smoking a pack a day for twenty-something years. I think Jigen can carry a tune and he’s a decent hummer and whistler, but his singing voice isn’t spectacular.

Lupin occasionally succeeds in getting Jigen to join him in car karaoke, though as in all things, Lupin is much louder and more impassioned. Jigen frequently hums along under his breath, though, and Lupin loves hearing Jigen’s a cappella renditions of classical music (complete with hand motions).

When Queen starts becoming popular, car singalongs become much more involved because it’s MY silly headcanon and You Are Not Immune To Queen. Jigen cried the first time he heard “Bohemian Rhapsody” and he will kill Lupin if he ever tells Goemon or, God forbid, Fujiko. When the four of them are in the car it’s a full-on Wayne’s World headbanging party. (Pops is the drunk guy they pick up along the way. Also, seeing Payless Shoe Source in this clip dealt me psychic damage.)

Lupin and Jigen (and Goemon) are the living embodiment of the drunk friends singing “Sweet Caroline” post, and Jigen is specifically this version of “Sweet Caroline”.

17) Who is more protective?

THAT IS THE QUESTION, HUH, GHOST? Jigen’s job and, to a certain degree, raison d’être is protecting Lupin, but (to cheat slightly and quote your own DM to me), if you think Lupin won’t raze everything to the ground to keep Jigen (and the others) safe, you don’t know him at all. They are this meme to the deepest of faults. They are both so desperately afraid of losing what they have (and in Lupin’s case, this is tinged with a bonus, even more concerning “what is his”) that they will go full self-sacrificing, scorched-earth policy. This is, in fact, my favorite reason for Lupin to do the worst thing he does: fake his own death to protect his partners. Lupin never stops to think that maybe, JUST MAYBE, he should trust his partners to fake grief and keep the secret long enough for whoever’s on their tail to give up or let their guard slip. Lupin is willing to hurt them in an effort to protect them, so in that way, I suppose Lupin is the “most” “protective”. Jigen’s self-abasement to the point of unhesitating and perhaps even hasty sacrifice is painful, too, but Jigen would never dare go to the same level of deception (except in Goodbye, Partner, apparently? But 1) I haven’t watched it yet and 2) while awful, I still feel like fake betrayal pales in comparison to very convincingly (AND MAYBE REPEATEDLY) faked death).

19) Who drives and who has the window seat?

They split driving duties, but Lupin genuinely loves driving and Jigen is more than happy to prop his feet on the Fiat’s dashboard and smoke or sleep the hours away.

23) Who thinks they are not good enough for the other’s love? and who’s more afraid of losing the other? Who thinks they keep messing up, only for the other to tell them they don’t need to worry?

HERE WE GO AGAIN!!! I think the answer to all of these is ultimately Jigen, but that’s not to say Lupin doesn’t share the exact same worries.

Jigen has a very difficult time believing that his partners’ love is genuine, and since Lupin is the one he knew first, that’s where it first manifests. Jigen has had very, very few good romantic connections in his life (if any). He doesn’t know what Lupin could possibly see in an older, prickly hired killer with a drinking problem and a head full of demons. He’s willing to believe that Lupin keeps him around for his skills, for protection, and for sex, sure, but anything past that? Doubtful. This ties into the other two parts of the question: Jigen is afraid that if he fails in his sharpshooting or his protection, he will be cut out of the gang, or worse, Lupin will end up dead because Jigen slipped up. As mentioned in question 17, Jigen cannot bear to lose Lupin and he would never forgive himself if he believed it was somehow his fault. Accordingly, Jigen takes “failure” that exceeds his usual margin of error very seriously in the early days. Later, he is better about this, but the worst-case scenario still stands.

Lupin, on the other hand, has had plenty of romantic connections, some good, some bad, though it is perhaps telling that Fujiko is his longest romantic relationship other than Jigen. He is afraid that if he doesn’t put on the world’s greatest show at all times, no one will give a rat’s ass about some scrawny grandson of an old French thief (or the perhaps unwanted/disliked son of a ruthless crime lord, because I love that fanon for Lupin the Second). He must live up to and indeed surpass the previous Lupins, he must shower his partners in money and adventure, he must always, always come out on top no matter how south the plan goes, or else what is the point of him? It takes time for him to turn his persona off for more than a few seconds, to let the quieter, sometimes contemplative side that slips through the cracks come to rest out in the open. Years down the road, Jigen finally gets up the courage and the words to tell Lupin that he would love him no matter what he did or where he went, even if that was nothing and nowhere. And again, see question 17 re: losing Jigen.

29) Who does some crazy stunt to try and impress the other and who ends up driving them to the emergency room after it backfires?

Lupin is by far the most guilty of this. He’s constantly pulling dumb shit, whether that be for World-Renowned Gentleman Thief reasons or just He May Be Stupid reasons. Case in point: the tunnel scene in The First, after which Jigen was duly impressed. Fortunately for Lupin, Lady Luck must be head over heels for him because the bastard keeps surviving, but sometimes even she can’t save him from medical consequences. Jigen bulk-ordered “Stupid Hurts” band-aids specifically for Lupin. Jigen’s bad choices are more likely to literally backfire on him, but Goemon more than makes up for Jigen’s slack in the Crazy Stunt department.

[xxgoblin-dumplingxx]

I Learned That From You: Two

You sat at the counter and stared out the front window of your shop, debating the merits of closing up early. No one had been in all day, though that was surprising. The spring tourist season hadn’t started yet. There was still too much snow in the mountains for anyone but seriously outdoorsy people and those people didn’t usually come to antique stores in search of curios and depression glass. 

“What do ya say, Rocky?” you hum at the mutt, sunning himself in the window and idly watching to trickle of foot traffic, “Are we gonna head home?”

At the sound of your voice his head turned and he eyed you lazily, yawning. 

“Silly boy,” you sigh, picking up his leather leash, “C’mon. Maybe a treat.”

The word treat was, like always, a magic word. And the elderly beagle hauled himself to his feet with a soft woof and a swish of his tail. When he sits, waiting patiently for you to shove the money in your safe, you keep a running string of commentary up for him. Partly because with the shop being empty you got lonely. And partly because… well. You needed to talk but. Who else were you going to talk to? It’s not like you had a man waiting for you at home. 

“Did I tell you I saw him on the news again?” you ask the dog. 

He doesn’t answer, but he does cock his head listening. 

“Yeah. There was some fancy party or something. He looked good. Tired, though.” You sigh and glance at the dog. His big brown eyes looked, to you, slightly judgmental. “I know but…” you stop. You aren’t sure why you’re explaining yourself to someone that licks his own ass. But. You’ve never met a dog with such judgy eyebrows. “I loved him, ya know? Still love him.”

The soft grumbles from the dog make you chuckle and rub his ears. “Don’t worry, Rock,” you tell him, kissing his head, “You’re the number one man in my life… Besides. He knew me a long time ago. And I’m pretty sure he’s gotta beat women off with a stick.”

The dog huffed at you and you shook your head, “Tinder hook ups don’t count,” you snort. “I could stand on the porch and yell “come get it! And they’d line up. Especially here.”

If dogs could roll their eyes, you were sure Rocky would have and you smiled. “Let’s go, huh?”

And he didn’t need telling twice as you clipped the leash to his collar and tugged you out the door. 

You paused at the door, taking the time to engage the security system and lock it before letting Rocky pull you insistently towards the doggie boutique where they had treats he found especially tasty. “Ready for your paycheck?” you ask him, laughing as his tongue lolls out. 

Six months ago, he’d been in a shelter. Someone had dropped him off to make room for a baby or a puppy or some damn thing and because of his age, no one had wanted to take him home. But. His calm demeanor and the coloring on his eyes that made him look like he had eyebrows had been… just what you didn’t know you needed. And it had only taken a couple weeks for him to get comfortable being a shop dog. And more comfortable still getting gourmet treats and a heated doggie bed. He was old. And spoiled. And you were reasonably certain he might be your favorite person. 

“There’s my favorite customer!” The woman behind the counter said laughing, easing herself off of a stool and going to get Rocky’s favorite biscuit. “Closing up early today?” 

“Yeah,” you sigh, pulling two bottles of water from a cold case and your money out of your bag, “No tourists to sell to,” you snort. 

“Isn’t it just the pits?” she sighed, “Honestly I wish they’d hurry up.”

You smile, “No joke, Mari, no joke. Sure. Online business is fine but… god I hate the post office.”

She made a sympatheic noise, “Did you ever figure out how to ship that end table?”

You nod, grinning, “In one piece even.”

Rocky made a soft grumpy sound on the floor and you roll your eyes, taking the treat from the other woman, “Alright, ya old grump,” you tell him, “here’s your paycheck.” You hold it out to him and he takes it from your hand gently before crunching down happily.

“Ah, Happy crunching sounds,” Mari giggled, “And another satisfied customer.” She turns and goes to ring out the order. “Hey!” she said abruptly, “I just remembered. Mom wanted me to ask if you’d take a look at the old wash tub in her shed. See if you could make it into a planter or something.”

“She’s not going to use it in the produce stand any more?” you ask taking your change. 

“It’s too heave to lift,” Mari said shaking her head, “She almost threw her back out last year trying to get it set up.”

You make a soft sound of understanding and nod, “I’ll take a look at it… I may be able to some up with a good planter. Put some nice perennials in there. Make it less fuss.”

“Perfect! I’ll have her give you a call.”

“I’ll keep an eye out for it,” you tell her with a wave as Rocky, now done with everyone now that he’d had a treat, started towards the door. Making you laugh, “See you tomorrow!”

_________

At home, you sit in the kitchen, sipping a cup of tea. You aren’t entirely sure why but, the kitchen has always been your favorite room in this house. Maybe, it was because you’d spent time crafting it in to your dream kitchen. One that felt like it came from a fairytale while still having modern comforts. 

And against your better judgment you pull out your laptop. 

You’d wondered what would become of Clint. Worried for him. Cried over him. Even though you’d been the one to leave. You had grieved. The fairytale that could have been. The boy you’d loved. And now? He was a hero now… And. You’d be lying if you said that that didn’t hurt. That you weren’t reason enough to change. 

But. As your scrolled through pictures and articles, you couldn’t help but be proud. He wasn’t the boy you knew anymore. But. He was a man with a purpose. And you hoped he was happy.

[soyouareandrewdobson]

Alex ze Pirate Mini Review 2: Underappreciated and how Sam should deal with an abuser.

Last time I gave a general overview of how Sam is treated by his “friends”. Now I want to give a more specific example, that will also show how Dobson’s storytelling abilities are not really all that good, particularly when it comes to pacing or building up any sort of conflict.

You see, for the most part Alex ze Pirate is just a collection of stupid artwork (not even concept art, just random artwork Dobson makes of his characters dressed as something random) and one page strips with a stupid punchline, with Sam most of the time being the receiving punching bag.

There have however been a few individual, short stories over time. And when I say short stories, I mean short. As in 15 pages for a very cheap set up, a few jokes and a punchline. Those include stories such as All that Glitters (where everyone except Alex breaks into a fortress to steal something), The Wish Fish (the only halfway okay story of them all because it is just meant to be comedic) and Best Laid Plans. However, near the end of the initial run of AzP, Dobson did a three part story (partly) focused on Sam in that format, which started off with the chapter I want to talk in this post: “Underappreciated”.

As you can see, the chapter starts off following some basic rules of storytelling in comics. Two establishing panels for the location at which the story takes place initially and showing what Sam’s duties are. Nothing really bad yet. The only thing that sticks out being just the fact that a) Sam does not have his own bedroom and has to sleep in a useless outlook and b) he sleeps in his regular clothes. But hey, nothing to get upset about initially, perhaps he just prefers it like this at the moment. But with the next two pages…

The problems start to show. Page three establishing that Atea herself is just a cunt who can’t even have the basic decency of wishing her “friend” a good morning or giving him a thank you for bringing a morning beverage as she has other selfish priorities on her mind. Like wanting to lick the shower water of Alex’s skin.

Also, go fuck yourself Uncle Peggy. As in, get both your arms ripped off, shoved up your butthole with those hooks and then get hanged on those stomps like a chandelier. I wouldn’t even mind the fact here that Peggy left a mess, if the face he makes in the last panel was not obvious of the fact he left the bathroom like this on purpose and that he is rather happy of making Sam’s day extra miserable by the fecal matter he left behind. Combined with any previous strip of the comic showing that Peggy for no reason likes to get the boy in trouble and even wants to see him die, this just shows once more of how much of an asshole he is. If the last panel just showed him with a groogy hangover look, obviously unaware of how much discomfort he brings unintentionally to Sam, that would be one thing. But intentionally making Sam’s day miserable despite the obvious fact the boy is the first one to do anything around here, while making one of the worst drawn “HAHA, I am such a rascal faces” I have ever seen (and I have seen shitty anime en mass) makes me hate the character more than Dobson intented.

And then there is page 5…

And it is in my opinion the saddest page in the entire comic arc, even compared to the “heartbreaking” stuff Dobson wants to pull up in the last third of it. Because though it is meant as a joke, the general execution is too cruel, crossing into “dude, not funny” territory and showing just how little the crew cares for Sam. Talus, Sam’s “best friend” not even aware he is around, everyone stealing Sam’s food with that stupid “Yoink” sound (seriously, I wish the characters would get punched in the vaginas each time they make this sound in any of Dobson’s strips) and then leaving Sam behind with smug faces, ready to do whatever they want to do, while he, likely stinking of feces and not even having showered properly, has also to clean up after those pigs, who can’t even eat in a proper manner ( hey Atea, use a fork instead of holding the bowl) and silently. I mean, they are pretty much pigs when the noises they make are loud enough, they make the font of the writing change randomly into whatever Dobson has on his computer with every sound. Not to forget the mess they leave behind. And they call Sam the Slob?

Anyway, on to the next page…

And who the heck left their Hello Kitty toy in the bathtub? Also, I hate the way Alex’s face is drawn in the lower left corner. Something about the eyes in relation to the shit eating grin just looks off. Less “smug” and gleefully awaiting whatever she plans next and looking more like Dobson when someone tells him his opinion and reasoning for it is bad, but he can’t yell back at them because they are part of a minority and so he has make a “good face” to a bad situation, while internally he is already imagining how to strawman them in some fake news worthy facebook post.

And then we get to page 7. Which features the WORST addition to the “Alex ze Pirate” canon Dobson has ever thought up. An embodiment of what is wrong with Dobson when it comes to inserting internet culture related stuff into his own work. Ladies and gentlemen… the lolcat pirates

Yeah, those Hello Kitty rejects who ironically look still more like a proper cat than Spot in Danny and Spot, are essentially one of the worst jokes Dobson has ever created. Because they are a joke without a punchline. See, all there is to them is that they are sentient cats, that speak in a manner associated with lolcat posting. And that is the “joke”. Their speech pattern being based on a dumb internet meme that was popular at the time Dobson drew this page. It is like if you portray an Asian by making them talk with a shitty racist accent and that supposedly counts already as comedy. It is not funny, because there is nothing really done with it in context of the story. Like no one addresses the weird way they talk. Also, with the font Dobson uses, it is just an eyesore to any reader and the text gets aggravating the more the captain of the cats talks. It shows why lolcat pictures only had very short sentences accompanying the pics, cause reading more than 8 words written in this manner tingles a part of your brain that makes you want to shout “English motherfucker, do you speak it”?

Don’t get me even started on how the joke would get lost to anyone unaware of lolcats and how dated the joke already was back when the page was posted, which is one of many reasons why comic artists should just in general avoid memes in their work, if they hope for it to pass the test of time. Instead let me just point out the fact that though Alex said “All hands prepared for casting off” on the previous page (which is also a very unnatural way to give the order “Everyone get ready! Take off in 10 minutes”) not all hands are on board, seeing how Uncle Peggy is missing on this page (and spoilers) many pages of this afterwards. Weird. I thought he would be onboard the moment Alex mentioned they are going to hijack a ship full of pussy. Lastly, this is Alex being a “badass”? Taking over a ship full of little furballs you can defeat with a laserpointer, a squeaky toy and catnip? Sam, this is not just “almost” embarrassingly easy, this is literally on a level similar to stealing candy from a baby. That is mentally handicapped. And without supervision. In a candy story.

At least it turns out there is genuinely something worth stealing on this ship. Otherwise all Alex would have accomplished on that very day would have been animal abuse for the sake of entertainment. Though now it also gets me thinking: A place called Katsville, the revelation that the captain is supposedly the child of a high ranking military feline within the sea force of an entire species of sentient cats… how exactly does the world of Alex ze Pirate function? Look, I do not want to get into too much detail about this point here yet, because it is a bigger issue with the worldbuilding (or rather lack thereof) of this series in general, but what is the “consistency” when it comes to races and species in this world? See, One Piece for example is overall a very “cartoonish” and fantastic world (more cartoonish than what Dobson creates on average) when you think of the fact there are fish men, giant seacows and seamonsters, sentient furry creatures, islands in the sky, sentient weather phenomenons etc next to humans. And while Oda does not really spend time elaborating in very high detail how his world works, the sheer abundance of those elements and how they were established pretty early on in the story and are revisited constanly, with the cartoonish flavor and humor of One Piece on top of it, makes those oddities feel organic and a part of the world.

Not so much in AzP. Here over 90% of the time any character not related to the crew is some generically drawn human, in a very generically human setting with jokes just not cartoonish enough. So the world of AzP feels more “realistic” and less oddish, making then things like Talus, the lolcat pirates and once a giant sea dragon that looked like Elliot’s rejected cousin

Stand out like a sour thumb that looks like this

But I digress. Lets see what makes Sam, who just seems bored and wants to end his miserable life/drink his sorrows away, throw the cat captain against the wall.

Okay. Sam’s overall reaction makes it clear, the locket is important. So “kudos” for establishing this and in doing so also create within a moment a bit of intrigue for the reader. After all, why does this locket get such a reaction out of Sam, who we know so far as more happy go lucky or deadpan in parts, instead of looking genuinely distraught. Heck, the fact he even tells Alex to shut up when she commands him around should highlight how out of character finding this locket truly makes Sam.

Then there is Alex’s reaction to being told to shut up, which she takes with as much dignity as someone telling Dobson to just stop fawning about underaged lesbians in a toddler show.

Jesus Christ, she faces being told she looks like a guy with more grace than that. I mean, isn’t she used to being told to shut her trap? Cause if I were her parents, I would have told this entitled redheaded whinner a few times over the course of her childhood to shut up.

Scum sucking cabin boy… said by a butt ugly whore who would genuinely suck scum off if it means she can finally get laid instead of being mistaken for a man. By the way, with that angry face she makes in the first panel, I can totally see why others would mistake her for a dude. She just looks unpleasant and not in a funny way like that red panda girl from Aggretsuko. See, when she gets angry, it looks hilarious and cute because of the contrast to how the character looks ordinarily. This is just Alex looking even more unpleasant as usual.

Now, before I continue with the next pages, I like to point out the face Sam makes in the upper panel and Sam’s overall body language in the last one.

It is obvious that Sam is meant to be in a state of mind where he knows for what he is getting yelled at and where he genuinely reacts in a hurt manner. His body shaking, his head tilted down, not saying even a word. You would expect that the next page of this comic would be a follow up. Seeing Sam, who is pent up, lashing out in some way. Either for example by justifying why he said it, getting sad, angry, perhaps even violent in that situation. After all, so far the way this story has been structured, a lot of emphasize was put on the fact that Sam is treated not well and that finding this locket actually has an uncommon effect on him. Heck, even the title of this chapter hints on the idea, that we should get some sort of huge reaction out of Sam now on the next page, as this is supposed to be Sam’s story.

Instead it is just Alex grumbling and grinding her teeth, unable to comprehend that someone finally told her something every reader with more than 20 braincells said when reading this comic series. And this in my opinion is from a structural point, one of the biggest missteps in this story. Obviously, this is supposed to be a comic about Sam, based on title and him being the one character in it with the most emotional aspects so far. And it is also obvious that this is not just meant to be a silly gag comic but supposedly one with emotional weight. So, where is that weight so far, aside from the panels showing Sam being miserable because he gets the short end of the stick by his friends? Sorry to hijack this thing here now with my own ideas, but if I had writen this story, page 12 and 13 would have actually been an immense turning point for me in the dynamic so far. Why I would have let Alex shout at Sam for insubordination, I would have made it more than one panel of Alex calling him scum and also end likely with Sam, who obviously reaches a limit the longer she goes on about it, end punching her in the face, perhaps even knock out. Show truly just how far Sam is pushed emotionally at this moment, keeping it however ambiguous if he hit her because of her words hurting or because of something else, in doing so focusing also the attention to the reader back on the locket.

As an aftermath of this, Alex would (if not knocked out) hit Sam back, much to Atea’s and Talus horror, later implying additionally that Sam left because of being hit by whom he thinks is not just his captain but a “friend” (oh yes spoiler, Sam is gone in the next chapter)   or the next page would be of Alex waking up back in her hideout from having been knocked out. Atea and Talus informing her what happened, her deciding to deal with Sam later on after recovering (who accompanied everyone back on the island temporarily) only for the last page showing Sam deciding that he is leaving the island, ending the chapter on Sam in a small boat slowly drifting away from the island. You know, something to give the chapter the feeling that the “shut up” moment is an emotional turning point in this story and that there might be something bigger going on that resulted in Sam deciding to leave, without having him however go full Meg Griffin as in the Family Guy episode “Seashell Seahorse Party”, chewing Alex and the others out for the way they treat him. Cause honestly, as much as I like for Alex, Atea and Talus to be chewed out and face consequences for their actions, doing so would likely just be (like in that Family guy episode)  a pointless fillerbuster in the bigger picture of things, as no real consequences would come out of it.

Well that and just like the writers of Family Guy, Dobson is just equally loathsome and thinks he can write whatever sick joke he wants and can on his characters, basic decency or consistency in writing be damned.

But back to the comic, where things just “end” as shown here instead of any real emotions boiling up and a cliffhanger that may genuinely beg the question what is going to happen next to anyone involved in this thing.

 Cause really, by the time it is night and Sam says it is time to go, you are not surprised he wants to go, even if he did not have a genuine emotional outburst within this chapter. After all, who wants to stay with “friends” like this, with Talus and Atea not even trying to cheer him up and instead ignoring his obvious need for comfort in this uncomfortable way, as if they are a bunch of racists trying to look away as someone beats a black person in front of them into a pulp. The only question you may ask yourself by the time the last page is hit, is who that generic looking girl is, whose picture has been photoshopped into the locket.

 Something we may not find out by the time the next chapter and part of this review hits, but will get to eventually. Until then guys, in order to end on something happier, funnier and just genuinely more pleasant than what this story presented to us so far, have something silly and Super Sentai related here for the sake of childish entertainment.

[redxblueihateloveyou]

Thank you so much for answering my question! It is really kind of you. I have 2 more if it is not a bother: Do you know Haikyuu? I have seen lots of ships on your tumblr and considering what kinds of ships you like, Haikyuu has SO MANY potential for you. :) And the second question is, what do you think about Mikoto and Reisi from K? I only saw Sarumi posts, so I am curious.

Oh heHE, let’s start with k project. Honestly Sarumi is the only ship I care about in this anime, I mean every other couple there for me is very undeveloped for me. Sarumi is like true love shit, I wasn’t expecting them to even go there, and when Misaki said to him “I want you to have a real home you can come back to and that’s me” my jaw was on the floor. I mean, they’ve seen each other at their worst and still loved each other (honestly the whole Fushimi’s father storyline and Misaki holding him through it was just too much for my heart). So they’re the only romantic ship for me in this anime.

Mikoto... wasn’t he in love with that guy who he took into their clan to protect? Who was killed? The one who lalala played the guitar whatever was his name? And that’s why he didn’t want to live after that, only wanted revenge and then finita? No?

Red king and blue king did have a sexual tension in that lighting a cigarette scene, other than that... they just “fought” with each other lots and I don’t even see much relationships or like anything that would make them a good romantic couple. And even if I pretend  that they loved each other... Mikoto asked him to help him killing himself? That’s like assholishness level 200 to me. I never got this idea of asking your loved one to finish your ass... like bitch, maybe it sounds good for you but did your selfish ass think about how your other half is going to live with that? So that’s a huge no for me. 

But seriously I like don’t know what to look for there, I don’t see it. I hope he’s in heavens with that other guy, but also I don’t really care, cause Fushimi was like the only thing why I sat through the whole thing, cause lord that hour of watching that girls watermelons I could’ve spent more productive (like man I was trying not to fall asleep during some useless episodes, I don’t even know why and what for some characters were even there), BUT but it was all worth it, cause there is one character who was written so good and so complex and he’s so well done that I don’t even mind.

Now before I go to Haikyuu... I think my problem is that unlike many I don’t ship every bromance just bc it’s a good bromance. Because sometimes there are some great bromances but they give out like zero romantic vibes. For example, Stiles and Scott: would totally die for each other, hug each other a lot, have no problem with saying I love you, but they’re like best bros, there is nothing romantic there. Like Stiles can ask Danny or Scott if they find him attractive, but he would never ask Derek about this, you know what I mean? They’re like me and my sister.

So for me there is a huge difference between bro things and gay things (like I only partly joked while making that rinharu post). And some couples are clearly crossed that line in some weird moments. Because things like high fiving each other and hugging each other don’t make anyone gay. I don’t know if that makes sense for anybody else... but those who have siblings or bffs will get what I mean. 

Like classical example is Rin Matsuoka. When it come to Sousuke he easily writes him letters and calls him like I feel with my best friend. I can call anytime and be like “bro, I’ve missed you”. Cue the 3x03 weirdest scene when Rin misses Haru and is afraid to call and tell him that. That’s the proof here that they’re clearly something weird there, cause if they were just friends he would be like “hey, bro, missed you” which will never be the case here.

Or can you imagine Rin and Haru seeing each other and being like “yo man” and fist bumping and hitting each other? I’ll bet 1000$ that you can’t. Rin can hit Sousuke in the shins, and ruffle Nagisa’s hair, but Haru would never get this from him. And spoiler: it’s not cause he hates him xD

Also I think the easiest example is Kuroko. (and please, don’t think I’m judging ppl for shipping stuff, I mean to each their own, it’s just my opinion). It’s the anime where people ship everyone with everyone just because of hey... bromances, while in my opinion most of them have seriously nothing gay about them and most of them just do normal bro things. Like how can Kuroko and Kagami be seen as smth romantic I still don’t get. Or like Aomine and Kagami thing??? They are like freaking twins. Same with Kise and Kasamatsu, Midorima and Akashi ships and many others.

Like we see Kuroko and how he behaves with everyone. Firstly he was shadow for everybody: Kise, Aomine, Kagami and he was good with every one of them. Kuroko is a people’s person, he is caring, he thinks about others a lot, he cares about everyone including Haizaki who is an ass tbh, so it’s also nothing special (I mean that way you can ship him even with Kyoshi xD). Aomine is special for Kuroko bc he understands him the most on the field, Kise is his main rival, Kagami is his least problematic light, Murasakibara is his favorite as a person... etc, this way you can ship Kuroko with anyone. 

But... someone gets what none of them get. Like Kuroko never checked anybody out or said compliments... but he did think Akashi looked yummy in his kimono at the festival. Kuroko never told anybody a zillion words “it’s all because of you” speech... except for one person. None of them made his heart crack and cry rivers when they left him... except one. And I just loved how we get this with everyone:

And then suddenly this happens:

Lol okay, blue-shems. He gives him his food and asks questions about “who’s his type and his special one”, like... you know he doesn’t do that with anyone else. And Akashi is not his bestie. So yeah, explain this as “bromance”.

Same with Akashi. He forms the new team. He actually misses Kuroko so much that he goes and finds a copy of him. The ONLY GOM member he can’t go without and it’s proved after Kuroko asked him on the interview “who is the person you scared to lose the most” and Akashi answers “you.. it’s you, Kuroko”. Now... hold the horses. We all know that Midorima is his bestie, there’s no contest there, which brings us to the fact that he places Kuroko higher than his best friend which makes Kuroko his... what exactly? 

It’s just some things can’t be BRO things.

Like when you cover your eyes and going “dude, don’t show your package in public, zip it, no one wants to see that”, that’s what I’m like when I accidentally see my sister’s boob. That’s how Makoto behaves when he sees naked Nagisa and Haru who’s undressing.

Opposite to Rin oggling Haru half naked and Haru shaking before touching Rin. That’s clearly not how you feel about your “just friend”. Everyone who has bffs must confirm that they don’t get nervous about touching them or them touching you cause you’re comfortable with that. Does this make any sense? I hope, it does. I’m not very good at explaining.

Now about Haikyuu. Haha I’ve been avoiding this so much, cause I didn’t want ppl to throw stones at me. I’ve tried.. I really tried to watch it twice. Once I got to ep8, 2nd time I asked my sister to watch with me (cause it’s funnier that way, that’s how we got through durarara without dying xD) and I still gave up after ep14.

It’s not only just that I was bored and I thought it’s gonna get exciting but it didn’t (bc I’m more of an interesting characters > an interesting plot person), it’s just.. it was episode 14 and I didn’t even find any character who would interest me cause they were so cliche. Especially Hinata. He’s like that super typical main from what I called the “never give up it’s such a wonderful life” bunch that I really deeply respect, but kinda so very tired of them lol. But he’s also from the loud bunch.. and I think I still hear Asta’s voice sometimes, even though I’ve dropped Black Clover after ep10 like a year ago xD

Now I can’t make judgements about the whole thing cause I didn’t watch it, but from what I saw (I mean “shipping scenes” from tumblr) and asked from ppl who has seen the whole thing (one huge fan and another one - not a huge fan, my sister), I got the idea that this anime is more bromancy that romancy. And there are no couples there like “without you I have nothing to aim for and I want a future with you” or “you made my life a dream and you’re the light of my life and I’m scared to lose you the most” like there are in free or knb. 

Now my sister has finished it 4 months later and said that it was just okay. And I was like “okay, but what about ships?” because I’m willing to close my eyes on the plot of the ships are good. And she went “well... two mains, I guess” and she was so apathetic about it that I was like “If she who ships much more than me is like that then I won’t see anything there” xD

But... like if you have anything to say to convince me or interest me in it, I’m willing to listen. If you have smth that would make wanna try for the 3rd time, I’ll even record how did it go xD.

[vi-olia]

Yuletide 2019 Letter

Dear Writer,

Hi! I am violia over on AO3 and viiolia here on tumblr.

I am so excited that you have been matched with me for this year’s Yuletide. This letter is intended to expand upon the small details that I gave you on the AO3 signup. If you’d prefer to not have any more details from me, then I understand! Good luck, thank you for writing in these small fandoms, and I can’t wait for the 25th!

On the other hand, if you’d like some more info from me, then please read on. What you’ll find here is a list of my likes and dislikes, and then a rundown of each of my requested fandoms, in which I explain why I love the characters and fandoms that I’ve chosen, so that you may get an idea of what I’d like to see in potential fics, without me just straight up telling you what to do.

ABOUT ME

Likes:

If there’s only one thing that you want to remember about me, please let it be this: at the end of the day, I will love any fic if it is driven by strong, well-thought-out characters and relationships.

Happy endings! I enjoy angst and hurt/comfort, but please let there be a happy ending for all.

Snappy dialogue.

I love canon! All these canons. I also like canon divergence and post-canon fics.  

Humour, romance, mystery, sci-fi, fantasy, drama, adventure, magical realism.

I generally enjoy fandom tropes, as long as they’re adapted to suit the specific characters and relationship dynamics. Friends-to-lovers, or 5+1 things, are two tropes that immediately come to mind. The same goes for AUs: I love an AU if there’s been good thought and worldbuilding put into how the specific characters and relationships would fit into a different canonical universe.

I love slash. All my requests contain characters that I love to ship together. I love smut and romance and getting-together fics and established relationship fics. But if slash really isn’t your thing - I won’t mind a gen or pre-slash story either. Again, at the end of the day, if the fic is driven by strong, interesting, emotional characters and arcs, whether in relationships or not, I will be loving it!

In terms of smut, I really enjoy (again, I’m a broken record) when it’s informed by the characters’ emotions/dynamics/relationship at that certain point in the story. I enjoy reading more vanilla smut and more kinky smut; specific likes include praise kink, consent play/dubcon (where it’s still clear that both parties have consented to this kink), body worship, semi-public sex (preferably close calls, or without being caught), tender sex, and rough sex (not too much actual pain though). My bookmarked works on AO3 can be pretty, uh, enlightening in terms of what smut I like to read. Also, this is pedantic but I prefer the word “come” rather than “cum”.

Dislikes/DNWs:

Animal and child abuse/death.

Character death, or characters with cancer/terminal illnesses.

Unhappy endings.

Horror, zombies, cannibalism, and extreme/non-canon-typical violence.

PWP. Don’t get me wrong - I love porn. But please have some plot in there!

De-aging.

Student/teacher relationships, and any circumstances/relationships/power dynamics where a main character is taking unfair or malicious advantage of another.

Rape.

Infidelity.

First person POV.

In terms of smut, I’m really not a fan of BDSM, scat, watersports, vomit, extreme humiliation, body horror, or bestiality.

BLACKKKLANSMAN Ron Stallworth, Flip Zimmerman

This film really got me good. Everything about it struck me - the message, the characters, the plot, the cinematography, the music. I quickly fell in love with Ron and Flip and the idea of those two becoming friends (or something more).

I love Ron Stallworth for his courage and wit. I love how he approaches life and people. He’s so open, low-key and easy to get along with. He’s not quick to judge anyone. Perhaps this stems partly from the time he spent at college. But I truly feel that if someone were to come out to Ron Stallworth, he would never discriminate against them. Maybe he’d need some time to fully understand. Maybe he’s needed some time to fully come to terms with his own sexuality. But he’s not one to judge. And he’s so smart and such a quick-thinker. And probably a little kinky, which I love. Okay I’ll stop rambling about Ron now.

Time to ramble about Flip instead. Flip Zimmerman: the Gruff, Quiet Romantic. I love how Flip can seem so immovable, always unfazed. He and Ron are similar, in this way. But Ron is way more in touch with his emotions, whereas Flip is not so much. Or maybe he is in touch with his emotions, but he just doesn’t often express them. I love that Flip needs to really trust someone before he lets them get close. He’s not quick to judge others, either, but I think he can certainly hold some judgements about himself, and out of the both of them, I’d say Flip would have more trouble coming to terms with his sexuality, or admitting his feelings for Ron. But oh boy - I think Flip would be fantastic in bed. Yes ma’am. Mmm… anyway.

One thing I’m very aware of is that being gay or exploring your sexuality was not totally fun or freeing in 1970s America. It came with a lot of serious dangers. Being outed could cost you your job, your safety, your family, and more. Writer, I would appreciate it very much if you could take this historical context into account. It directly informs whatever friendship/relationship Ron and Flip have. I would find it very difficult to feel immersed in a story about two men, one Jewish and one African-American, who are coming to terms with their feelings for one another, or entering into a romantic and/or sexual relationship with one another, or forging a close friendship with one another, if the story did not take into account the serious issues of racism and homophobia which pervade the era and setting of this film. (AKA, please don’t have them sitting in a public cafe holding hands, or something else that’s unrealistic for this time period.)

My preference for these two characters is clearly skewed towards slash. I would love to read about them forging a relationship, romantic or sexual or both. Maybe they go from friends to lovers, or they do the only fun thing there is to do in Colorado Springs and hike into the wilderness for a private moment. Or maybe they’re in an established relationship, and navigating their lives as a closeted gay couple who both work for the police department. Or maybe you think of something else entirely; I can’t wait. Alternatively, maybe you’d prefer to write gen or pre-slash instead, and in that case, please feel free. I would love reading about the growth of Ron and Flip’s friendship, or more of their time working together as police officers. Ultimately, I am just so excited to potentially receive a fic from you, for me, which I think is so special.

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE RPF Colin Jost, Michael Che

Although the first year or two they spent as hosts of Weekend Update was fairly rocky at times, Colin Jost and Michael Che have really come into their own with this segment on SNL, and the hate comments I used to see on their videos a couple of years ago have almost all changed to comments of support and appreciations of their comedy. What makes them so good at this is their dynamic. They bounce off of either other constantly on the show, and they work so well together - they have to, in this job!

Michael Che is the one true trash fire that I know and love. What is he doing? I don’t know. I don’t think he knows either. And I love him for it. One thing that really stands out to me about Che is how good he is at comedy, and particularly stand-up. I can tell that he seriously puts a lot of thought and effort into his delivery. He makes it sound so effortless and off the top of his head, but in reality he is practiced and professional and knows his craft. His humour often comments on big issues like racism and gender, and I personally really enjoy this commentary-style comedy, where you can poke fun at everyone but also have a serious message to convey as well. Personality-wise, I love how Che is a selective over-thinker. He can be so overly conscious of some things, and so oblivious and apathetic about others. I think he might struggle, or has previously struggled with his sexuality; but I also think Colin makes him weak at the knees, and Che finds himself simultaneously wanting to take Colin on a date, and fuck him into the mattress, and run away and hide in another country, and fall asleep for three years, all at once.

Colin’s humour is more silly and less ‘controversial’ than Che’s. I don’t enjoy it less, just differently. Colin definitely has his life more together than Che does - or at least, is great at acting like he’s got his life together. I love that Colin is easygoing and quietly calm and confident, but beneath that, I think he struggles with some overthinking tendencies too. And sometimes he really doesn’t feel confident at all. I think he’s pretty in touch with his emotions, but when it comes to expressing them, sometimes he might just need a moment to get the right words. Especially if he’s nervous. But I love that Colin really likes Che. He finds Che so hilarious (and vice versa, of course). I love how Che can always make Colin laugh out loud, or do his cute little smile that’s a twist of his lips. I love that they can bounce off each other in progressing a joke to the point where it seems like they’re the only two people in the room.

Truly, I think they’re both trash fires in their own ways. I think it’s a minor miracle if they get together, because they’re both second-guessing themselves at some point, and they both treasure their friendship so incredibly much. But that’s why I love them so much - because of how closely tied together they are. They truly value each other in their lives. They are best friends and close confidants and they’ve gone through a lot together.

I love reading about Colin and Che and their lives working at SNL. The work week is incredibly hectic at that show - even more so now that Colin and Che are head writers, as well as managing and appearing in their own segment. I find the whole cast of SNL fascinating and hilarious, and I think a lot of people romanticise what it might be like to work in such a demanding job with such a close-knit community of people. I think who they are at this point in time is tied very closely with their jobs, especially because they work together. If you’re writing a story or some scenes that take place at SNL, I don’t mind if you include other SNL cast members in passing interactions, for the sake of verisimilitude.

Writer, I would love it if you could just pretend that Colin Jost is not engaged to Scarlett Johansson. Or if there’s another way you want to deal with that, then go for it. Please just heed my DNWs: no infidelity, and no unhappy endings. Other than that, I’m so excited about any story you have about these two guys. I clearly ship them together; I’d love to see some aspect of their relationship, maybe getting together or in an established relationship, maybe during the SNL season or something they get up to during their summer holidays. If you’re more of a gen or pre-slash writer, I totally understand - just their dynamic as it is now, as friends who bounce off one another and get on each others’ nerves but ultimately understand each other on a deeper level than anyone else around them, is so interesting and entertaining for me to watch and I’d love to read more of it.

Side note: Colin and Che did an advertisement for Red Nose Day on the Weekend Update desk in which Kate McKinnon, in an old-lady character that I think embodies all of fandom, lobbies for them to kiss. Colin kisses Che on the cheek, but Che was totally ready for a peck on the lips. THIS VIDEO IS MAYBE POSSIBLY REQUIRED VIEWING FOR THESE CHARACTERS. Search their names + Red Nose Day on Youtube to find it; requires a VPN if you’re not based in the USA.

LEGALLY BLONDE Elle Woods, Vivian Kensington

I have two words for you. LAWYER WIVES. Or law student wives. That’s more than two words, but you get the idea.

A couple of months ago, I rewatched Legally Blonde for the first time in many years. My biggest takeaway from this viewing? ELLE AND VIVIAN NEED TO DITCH THOSE GROSS GUYS AND JUST GET TOGETHER INSTEAD. Seriously! Warner is a sexist and self-absorbed asshole. Both Elle and Vivian deserve so much better… aka, each other.

The biggest thing I love about Elle Woods is her positive and caring attitude. She rarely lets things get her down, nor does she fall into self-pity. And Vivian Kensington just screams smol baby gay to me and I adore her for it. Please can someone (Elle) walk into Vivian’s life and pull her out of the humdrum of repetitive, lame, often orgasm-less intercourses with self-absorbed men and into the beautiful world of women pleasuring other women one, two, three times over. But also I do love how Vivian puts on a strong, confident face and is so dedicated to her studies and career but you can tell, beneath all that, she’s still figuring all this stuff out.

I think Vivian can learn a lot from Elle about how to let go, have fun, and most of all, how to be more considerate of others; I think Elle can learn a lot from Vivian about discipline, duty, responsibility, and the more realistic/gritty aspects of being a lawyer. I think that together, these two women could balance each other out incredibly well. They could learn and grow together and support each other.

I think Elle’s naïveté could sometimes get annoying, especially to someone like Vivian, who is incredibly knowledgeable, realistic and down-to-earth. But that’s not to say that Elle is not those things as well. And in fact, I think Vivian can be quite naive herself when it comes to emotions and relationships; this is an area she’s not totally confident in. It’s pretty clear that Vivian’s internalised some sexist and misogynistic attitudes (see: slut-shaming Elle when she was sexually harassed by Callahan). I think Vivian’s jump to conclusions here can also be attributed to her tendency to act first, and ask questions later; she’s quicker to judge others than Elle is.

I hope this whole bunch of random thoughts I have about these characters gives you some idea of why I love them so much. What I’ve written here leans more towards femslash; but please know that, if you prefer to write gen, I would of course gladly accept any gen fic that you gift me. Because it’ll be from you, to me! And that is something so special and exciting. At the end of the day, I just want to read about these two characters growing closer together, whether that be in a friendship or relationship.

Note: if you want to include Emmett and/or Warner in some capacity, I don’t mind, just as long as the main focus of the story is on Elle and Vivian. Tbh I think Elle and Emmett would be awesome best friends.

[thesearchforbluejello]

I have a lot to say about the characterization of Frankie in 1x04 so buckle up and get ready for some meta regarding the way sexuality is handled in this show and why it's excellent.

Again, no page breaks on mobile; I'm so sorry. Also lots of spoilers, so be aware.

First of all, these writers are writing her better than basically every stock heart-of-stone badass female formulaic character I've seen on tv in a long time and it is giving me so much joy. She's naunced and complex and I could just go off about how if they're going to make this work she needs to be a developed, complicated character, but that's not my point here so we'll just suffice it to say that I think the writers are on a good track and Lauren Cohan (who I've never seen in anything else, mind you) is doing a fantastic job, seriously.

Anyway. Starting with two obvious points:

Frankie puts her foot down and argues that Mary doesn't do PDA. She's an experienced spy (and assassin, yeah, still not over that little twist, by the way) and it's screamingly obvious to basically anyone with half a brain that this ain't gonna fly in keeping their covers intact. And uh, yeah, it doesn't. So we end up with That Kiss™️ which first of all holy shit this show is going at us hard with this ship amirite is Complicated™️and could have been avoided if she'd just played it cool. Frankie almost botched this mission.

When we see the scene with the picnic, she allows the PDA for their cover and there is, like, Something With a Capital S and a TM™️ that almost happens there. I have lots of questions. So many. I was at first wondering if she was playing him, but I have serious doubts.

My second obvious point is that we know Frankie doesn't have any qualms about using her body as a tool to do her job-- it's literally a point that's made in the pilot and we see it here too. I'm sure as hell not the first person to think, let alone point out, that this looks a WHOLE lot like a rebound.

On this topic, let me take a short digression to build some interesting discussion here. This show has not cracked one overtly sexual joke in the main team that's targeted at another of the characters. Standish makes some jokes with pretty strong innuendo, but a) he's kind of an ass and b) they're not meant to degrade or attack another character, they're meant to show how childish he is. We see Susan and Will complimenting each other in 1x03 and it's totally platonic. We see the same with Frankie and Jai in that episode as well. We see Frankie and Will literally zipped into a body bag together in 1x02 and no one makes it weird. We see Frankie and Will dancing at the party in 1x03 and no one makes that weird either. He doesn't even compliment her, probably because he knows it would make her uncomfortable.

My favorite thing here is that we get that scene where they're diffusing the bomb and Frankie literally sits on top of him. That's hands down one of my favorite scenes in any show with a built-in ship because it's inherently sexual and yet a) no one comments on how comprimising of a position it is, b) no one even jokes, c) the writers work it into the set/plot as necessary, d) it's an incredible trust-building moment for Frankie and Will, who've been fighting in a very personal way the entire episode, and e) when a joke is made, because this is a comedy, Will cracks a joke that's about himself and isn't even sexual, just a little sensual, I guess, at the risk of making it sound more dramatic, and it follows an extremely cute moment that is completely devoid of any sexual undertones (I'm referring to their little moment of relief at the timer stopping).

The reason I'm bringing this all up is because we can see that the show is avoiding a lot of opportunity for cheap jokes that a lot of other shows would have and indeed have made, and not necessarily to their detriment. I can think of plenty of shows that have some entertaining sexual humor, one of which (that shall remain unnamed even though I love it dearly, because that's a post for another time) has been frequently compared with Whiskey Cavalier since before it even premiered. This omission is a deliberate choice here and it is nothing short of masterfully underscoring the underlying tension between Frankie and Will in a very real and tangible way.

In 1x04, things change. We get That Kiss™️, which I think we can all agree was just A Lot™️. Like I mentioned, it ends up balancing out Frankie's earlier refusal to engage in any PDA with Will for the sake of their cover. We shouldn't expect this from her since, as we've seen, she is definitely okay with using sex and her body as a tool to do her job, a fact she actually points out both times Will knows she does it. (Another solid gold star for our writers, as far as I'm concerned, having her acknowledge it.) There's a deeper issue to confront here than sex, and it's emotion. Too much emotion is Will's problem, while too little is Frankie's. It's what causes a lot of the tension between them, obviously, and it really comes to play here. I think it's a safe bet to say that Will's constant pressing for emotional connection with Frankie makes her deeply uncomfortable, since we see several specific instances of this where she explicity points out that she doesn't want that connection. But Will is right though and she's got that charm virus. She's connecting with him as a friend even though she doesn't want to and that makes things uncomfortable for her.

Basically, what I'm saying is that sex in this show is never villanized nor used as a tool for humor; instead, it's treated in a more complicated way. We get the differing interpretations of sex from both Will and Frankie but neither of them is ever presented as morally superior. We also get differening interpretations of emotion from them both, as we have in previous episodes, but the waters are really muddied here, partly because of the disagreement about sex and partly because of the emotional baggage involved: Will feels betrayed because it brings the memory of being cheated on right to the forefront of his thoughts and Frankie, it seems (though it is just interpretation at this point), looks to be avoiding any kind of emotional connection by reinforcing her use of sex as a tool.

TL;DR 1) I'm seriously shocked that we're getting this much ship this early, 2) I will defend Will and Frankie both over anything so I get very conflicted watching this show, 3) it's so refreshing to see a show that doesn't use sex as humor or the sole driving thing behind a ship; UST is one thing, but the emotions at play here make for a much more interesting, compelling story and I literally love this show.

[rwbyconversations]

Why Cinder’s plan is brilliant

I’ll freely admit that I can be a bit of a negative nancy about RWBY. In fact I’ve partly made my blog off of it, alongside sharing other people’s content. But I like to think that, going off the responses I get to my analysis posts, that they get a good reception. So today, I’d like to try something different and do some positive analysis of RWBY.

Volume 3 has become known as the highlight of the show for good reason. It’s the volume that brings together the past two years and concludes the first act of RWBY’s story on a truly desolate note- the heroes have failed and only narrowly pulled victory from the jaws of defeat, while the villains nearly got away without a single notable casualty, their plan having successfully gone off without a solitary hitch.

And what a plan. Cinder Fall’s nefarious schemes across the prior two volumes come into the forefront and utterly cripple Beacon. In one semester, she plants the seeds of a multinational world war, cripples the world’s communication network, kills countless citizens and Huntsmen, secures the powers of a demigod and gets away with killing one of the most powerful men alive. Not bad at all Cinder.

So that’s the purpose of today’s post. I’m going to break down, in my opinion, why I think Cinder’s plan to destroy Beacon was nearly full-proof and why it’s a genius scheme. Buckle up, I get wordy. 

Cinder’s plan has the least presence in Volume 1, though that’s more due to Volume 1 thinking it was too cool for things like plots and overarching narratives. But more seriously, the Volume 1 part of the plan needed some quiet reworking after Cinder’s power source was changed.

See, Cinder wasn’t originally a Maiden. In fact, the Maidens only existed after Volume 2 had wrapped. CRWBY have been quite open about this plot change, as it was one Monty came up with prior to his untimely death. Cinder instead would have simply been a powerful Dust Mage who was using the Dust Roman stole to gain power for herself and the White Fang. In all honesty going from using Dust-infused clothing to the Maiden powers was one of the smoother retcons in RWBY’s history, especially compared to some of the more egregious incidents like the handling of Aura. So Cinder quietly went from a Dust user to someone with half the powers of a Maiden Ultimately since most of the major elements in Cinder’s scheme such as Ironwood, the transfer students or the mech army are present, Cinder herself has little to do in Volume 1 after saving Roman and looking Mysterious.

And that’s the point. Roman’s part of the plan is to be as attention-seeking as possible, Cinder’s plan relies on Roman getting all eyes on him as he steals as much Dust as he can carry. Not only does he deplete reserves that go into the White Fang and her own pockets, but it also creates distrust in Vale, brewing up tensions that the White Fang use to radicalize more people and bolster their numbers.

Volume 2 marks the point where Cinder begins making deliberate steps on her plan. Now that Ironwood (and his ships with all their robots and big guns) have arrived along with the transfer students now entering Beacon, Cinder has the perfect cover to slip into Beacon undetected thanks to the security nightmare that is the Vytal Festival alongside Mercury and Emerald (and Neo I suppose), and she wastes no time with setting the stage. Mercury is immediately set out to analyse the most powerful fighters at Beacon and figure out their Semblances ahead of time. Emerald meanwhile played social butterfly, getting in good with some of the teams and sneakily learning who they were sending forward ahead of the matches. And Neo... was busy helping Roman and likely only appeared in the first episode of Volume 3 so people wouldn’t ask who the fourth person on Cinder’s team was. This was mostly a three-man mission after Cinder got to Beacon while Roman and Adam prepped for the bigger events. 

Even here, Cinder was already setting up three chess pieces of her own in her master-stroke to take down Ozpin: The assaulter, the murderer and the patsy. Barring the murderer (who was almost always going to be Pyrrha because Cinder loves dramatic irony and nothing’s better than a champion helping cause the apocalypse), these roles could have been taken by nearly anyone. Once Cinder knew which team members would advance, she could play around them. Hell, if Cinder hadn’t learned about Penny’s robotic nature, things could have easily been set up for Pyrrha to kill someone else instead- 

Cinder even manages to spin a school dance in her favor. It may seem on the service like some harmless fluff between the big battle episodes, but the dance arc episodes are made critically important through Cinder’s infiltration of the CCT and planting of Watts’ Queen Virus, alongside the episodes themselves letting us see Mercury and Emerald’s parts of the plan. With this in play along with the White Fang, Cinder had half the work done for the Fall of Beacon before RWBY even had a clue she existed. 

When you’re this confident in your plan (and when you don’t ever skip leg day) you earn the right to make some sick flips

Talking of RWBY, it’s interesting how they never really had a chance at stopping Cinder. Thanks to Roman hogging the spotlight, RWBY genuinely think they’ve stopped his plans entirely after the Breach. Qrow has to tell Yang and Ruby that yes, crime’s down, but every hydra’s got another head. Cinder basically sets Roman up as a patsy, and I think it’s safe to say she didn’t really care if Roman lived or died after the Breach. If he happened to live, then she could use that and send Neo to break him out before they caused more damage during the Fall, but it wasn’t a be-all-or-end-all if Roman died early. Regardless, the Breach was a giant distraction, a gambit that Cinder intended to lose. It was one that RWBY jump-started early, but the results were ultimately the exact same. 

There was no hopes of the Breach being enough to take out Beacon, even if Cinder, Emerald and Mercury had personally joined the fight. Its goal was always to make Ozpin’s leadership look incompetent. Under his watch, with the Vytal Festival looming on the horizon, a massive terror attack occurs and Ozpin is left looking like a headless chicken. People being to distrust Ozpin, the council gives James new privileges and more emphasis is placed on the Atlas military for security reasons. Which, with the Queen virus in place, is exactly what Cinder wants. The more androids on the night of the Fall, the more images of Atlas mechs firing on civilians to fill the nightly news. The Breach was never Cinder’s endgame- to quote @alexkablob, it was just Act 2. 

With Volume 3, the stage is set. Once Ironwood connects his scroll to the CCT, Cinder has access to all of his personal files, and that gives her the cherry on top for her Murder Souffle. With Penny, Cinder has just been given the prime target to set up as the fall guy for the Fall of Beacon.  

Also on the subject of the Vytal Festival, can you imagine what it must have been like to be the first year team that had to fight Team CMSN? Two trained assassins, a master illusionist whose stealth skills make her just as lethal as the assassins, and a 23-year-old posing as a teenager in leather pants who didn’t even use a weapon to kick your ass. The whole “How’d your team do?” Emerald flashes back to her team ripping some first years a new asshole “... Really well.” joke is one of the best gags in all of RWBY BTW.

Lady can you CHILL

With her hacking of the CCT, Cinder basically just needed to do one fight and then she could sit back and enjoy the fireworks. She had her Actor in Mercury, and after watching the Vytal matches, it was easy to find someone with a short temper who the crowd could believe was willing to shoot an injured man after he’d already lost, breaking his leg. Penny was the perfect target to die, but make no mistake, Cinder would have used anyone else as the victim. Heck, in an alternate timeline, whose to say someone like Ruby wasn’t the one gutted on Pyrrha’s spear in the Vytal finals?

Pyrrha, however, was always going to be the Murderer in this little stage play of Cinder’s. Cinder likely pegged Pyrrha as one of the candidates to become the new Fall Maiden early on, and if she hadn’t before the finals, seeing Pyrrha and Ozpin enter the CCT was the red flag she needed. Pyrrha was the Invincible Girl, the one everyone knew as a hero, greatest Huntress of her generation, and she was someone who it wouldn’t look suspicious if she curbstomped all of her enemies. Why else does JNPR fight BRNZ, a team with at least one electrical weapon, in an environment that spawns thunder? Neptune’s weapon also would have likely supercharged Nora, so the SN vs NP match that was cut for time would have had a similar outcome (including another water biome). Pyrrha was really the perfect person to take to the finals, and her polarity Semblance just made Penny that much better a target. 

To further my point, here’s a stellar post made by @alexkablob, with the relevant part quoted:

But she (Cinder) 100% wanted Pyrrha, specifically, to be the one who killed her opponent in the finals, and she wanted that as early as volume 2. Because Pyrrha is the Invincible Girl, she’s the greatest huntress of her generation, she’s the world’s icon, she’s a hero in the making, she’s on the cover of every Pumpkin Pete’s Marshmallow Flakes box. And Cinder wanted to take that image and tear it down for the entire world to see.

So when the finals came around, after the crowd had already seen barbarism from Yang, Pyrrha’s shoddy mental state after the last few days combined with Emerald’s Semblance to make a show no one ever forgot. 

Once the Fall kicked off, everything went straight to hell in a handbasket. The mechs went rogue, Adam’s White Fang brought Grimm in and caused chaos while an army of Grimm charged Vale. Cinder cut the broadcast on Atlesian mechs firing on civilians, all while delivering a monologue that nailed home just how utterly screwed everyone was. The Huntsmen were scattered, and the fleet was firing on itself thanks to Roman. 

Which let Cinder lead Ozpin into the final stage of her plan. 

Cinder needed Ozpin to come out onto the battlefield, so that the CCT would be unguarded. Ozpin would be forced to choose between the people he swore to protect, the citizens and Huntsmen who he tries to care for as people and as children, and a sickly, dying woman. If he wasn’t there, her chances of finding Amber and killing her skyrocketed. The only way it could be better was if Ozpin basically led her right to the Maiden-

Well, well, well. YOU HAD ONE JOB, JAUNE.

And with that arrow, Cinder wins. She’s got this in the bag, she just got the full Maiden powerset, Ozpin is alone because his need to put The Men First meant that he sent Qrow and Glynda into the city instead of staying with him to protect Amber and the Vale Relic. As an aside, look at their faces.

As @ozcarpin pointed out in this post that I took some notes from:

The logical option here is to double down on protection of the Relic and Amber, a few more casualties cannot hope to compare to the destruction that Salem can wreak with a maiden on her side. But Salem knows what option Ozpin will pick, what he can’t help but choose again and again no matter how many times it does him over.

Glynda and Qrow come to him, looking for direction amid the panic, torn between what they know are their duties, and he tells them to leave, to go to the city. Their enemies are coming for the vault, and they don’t know how many of them there are, how powerful the opposition might be, but Ozpin chooses to go alone. Cinder later calls it arrogance but Salem knows better.

Even knowing that he’s dooming them all, even knowing that he’s likely marching to his own death, Ozpin will always pick the safety of his people above all else.

And in that moment, all three of them knew it.

Cinder makes short work of Ozpin after this, even with all of his experience she immolates him. After that, before going to secure the Relic, she returns to Ozpin’s office to lord over her victory. And gee, it’s almost like Cinder’s big weakness is that she’s prideful and will always take time to gloat before confirming the mission’s complete! Like, seriously, if Cinder just grabbed the Relic and snuck out of Vale with Em and Merc, she’d have been clear. Roman and Neo would have likely died and taken a lot of the heat posthumously and Cinder would have had perfect checkmate.

But she had to go to his office, and she had to gloat. Meaning she had to fight Pyrrha and had to kill her, meaning she had to take Ruby’s Silver Eyes right to the face. Because you can have the best damn plan, but if you let your ego control you, the best laid plans often go awry. 

In conclusion, Cinder’s plan throughout Volumes 1-3 is perfectly laid out and designed in such a way that Cinder was able to make rapid adjustments on the fly. Thanks to using Roman and the Breach as scapegoats, she diverted attention away from her (in spite of Qrow nearly seeing her face when she went for Amber), her underlings were able to assist in pinpointing who would be fighting and when, and Watts’ Queen Virus let her wreak havoc on Beacon when the time came. Cinder’s plan is genuinely a well-written masterplan; the pieces were on the board right from the start, but only in hindsight did we see everything after all we knew and loved had come crumbling down around us. Or to put it another way:

The shining light will sink in darkness

Victory for hate incarnate

Misery and pain for all

When it falls...

Thank you for reading.

[yaz-the-spaz]

anons be like: red is great! blue is great! purple is great!

me: well personally blue isn’t my most favorite color but you do you, i’ll always still support them all though

anons: i was being sarcastic, you read my ask wrong, obviously i don’t really think blue is great

me: 

anons: why do you hate blue so much? are you anti-blue?

me: i…literally never said i hated blue??

anons: i hate red! i hate blue! i hate purple!

me: i mean if that’s how you feel that’s your prerogative but i don’t condone any kind of hate against those colors on my blog, so just keep it on your own blog

anons: i was being sarcastic, you read my ask wrong, obviously i don’t actually hate all those colors

me:

also anons: why are you so rude?

me: i…literally only told them to keep it on their own blog? politely? when they were the one that seemed to be being rude and hateful?

antis: oh yes red is so great! blue is so great! purple is so great! hahaha you’re pathetic, all those colors are gross and you’re gross, why don’t you come on over into the light sweetheart and realize that all those colors are flops and no one likes them anyway

me: ...

also antis: red and blue and purple are so great, aren’t they? :)

me: yup :)

antis: what’s your opinion on purple?

me: well i think it’s a really cool color and it’s had its faults but i’m just here to support it 100%

antis: well obviously you’re intelligent if you can see its faults, so why are you spreading pro-purple propaganda and converting innocent gullible empathic teens to be purple supporters when you know how bad it is?  

me:

antis: omg isn’t purple just so great?

me: yes?

also antis: haha yes purple’s so great, let’s keep on stanning and loving ugly colors that no one likes :) fuck you you ugly-color-supporting bitch, your support for red, blue, and purple is disgusting and you should go kill yourself

me: 

anons: blue and purple are just so great, aren’t they? :) :) :) but i don’t know if i believe the rumors about red, what’s your opinion on red? why do you think people don’t make a big deal out of red?

me: *triggered*

also me: *hoping against hope they’re not an anti trying to bait me so they can say nasty stuff about red but tries to respond as politely as possible anyway* yeah i think they’re great? and there have been a lot of rumors about red although i’m not sure what me sharing my opinion about red will do if you already don’t believe the rumors? but people have actually talked about red a lot over the years so i’m not sure what more you’d want to be done to make a bigger deal about it? it’s not like they’re gonna go on the news talking about it so idk what you’re looking for here?

anons: wow you were really rude, i was just trying to ask a question but obviously you read my ask completely wrong, i thought this was a place where we could ask anything but i guess not

me: *still triggered*

also me:

also anons: why are you so combative?

me: *even more triggered* what did i say that was so rude? i didn’t mean to hurt anyone? i was genuinely confused and made a couple snarky jokes about my own confusion?

also still me:

anons: just came back to say i still can’t believe how rude you were to me, you really hurt me

me: *maximum triggered* 

*kill bill sirens*

*wants to bury myself in a hole and never come out*

*strongly considers logging off forever*

(or at least turning anon off forever)

sorry but this is like the umpteenth time an anon has accused me of ‘reading their ask wrong’ and just like…

why is it so hard for people to understand that when you’re on anon that means you’re ANONYMOUS which means i (most likely) literally DON’T KNOW WHO YOU ARE which means i can only make assumptions about what you MIGHT mean by something

if you say something that’s meant to be sarcastic or a joke but don’t make it clear it’s sarcasm/a joke i literally have no choice but to take it seriously. if you say something that’s meant to be genuine but is confusing (or even sounds like it could be a little problematic), i’m gonna respond in kind even if it you didn’t mean it in that particular way b/c i don’t know you and i literally have NO WAY of knowing whether you’re being genuine or not or what exactly you mean unless you explain

and as much as this post may be me poking fun at my own situation (because yes every single scenario that you see jokingly summed up here has actually played out on my blog almost exactly as written in some form or another, if you just replace the colors with various ships names/individual people’s names), this is also partly me venting because i’m so utterly exhausted at people getting upset or annoyed or frustrated with me for quote on quote ‘reading their ask wrong’ (as if the blame falls solely on the reader when we literally have no other way to read it/take it anyway) and seeming to forget that behind this blog is an actual human being with feelings too - who btw is not in your head and may at times interpret things differently (based on my own understanding of things and my own past experience)

[believerindaydreams]

though I would like to write a story called “dreaming of oranges”

Upon quiet, thoughtful reflection, a whole “AU rewrite with Sheridan and Sinclair switched around” would require a rewatch of everything up to “Into the Fire” and at least twenty thousand words to do properly. And a lot more guff about Minbar than I can probably handle convincingly. And writing Sinclair, who strikes me as being one of those sneaky bastards who are great on the small screen but hell to write dialogue for. 

(cut for spoilers. Lots of spoilers)

Counterpoints: the fascination of dealing with this Minbari paradox, with the Grey Council struggling to grasp how their greatest icon could possibly also be Starkiller. How long it takes them to tell Sheridan why they asked him to be ambassador; around the end of Season Two or so, I think. In this version, Sheridan thinks he’s been posted to Minbar because new Clark wants him off-stage for some reason. In this version, he’s right; Clark’s heard just enough rumblings about a White Star fleet in the making to want a war hero on the spot to keep an eye on developments (Clark can always blame any unfortunate developments on Minbari War Syndrome, if necessary). Sheridan would, I think, have some genuine Earthforce concerns about helping Minbar build an entire flippin’ warfleet of White Stars, and want some very solid evidence about this whole Shadow War...so enter the Rangers, and Sheridan spends a year thinking they just wanted him to be Entil'zha. 

Probably some reluctant mutual admiration with Neroon, and Sheridan finding he gets on better with the warrior caste, ironically enough; there’s some common ground there and they agree that the religious caste’s five hour dinners are ridiculous. And Marcus shows up! With a lot of terrible jokes resulting, no doubt. 

Back on the station, everybody’s getting used to Sheridan’s replacement, the restrained and thoughtful Sinclair (and his on-and-off girlfriend Catherine). Garibaldi’s glad to have his old friend back; Susan takes somewhat longer warming up to him. Londo and G’Kar run into each other at the post office, one carrying a bag of oranges and the other parcelling up a set of Narn heating stones, and find themselves actually agreeing on something- namely, that landing up stuck on Minbar must be one of the worst possible fates for any hot-blooded sentient in the entire known galaxy. 

(Cut to: Lennier, holding a letter and pointedly not looking annoyed.)

So Sheridan starts deciphering the Shadow War, based partly on data gathered by the Rangers. Though some he’d be getting straight from Babylon 5, because Ivanova bullied the Epsilon III crew into providing them a reliable and secure communication system (you know she would). Gotta keep Sheridan in touch with the main crew somehow, especially if he’s going to fall in love with Delenn long distance...

who is aware that falling in love with Valen is an exceptionally terrible idea, but finds herself doing it anyway. Not that she intends to mention this to him; she’s already keeping far too many secrets from him, so what’s one more...until the end of Season Two (or thereabouts, anyway). When Sheridan calls her to say, well, this year on Minbar’s been fun, but now he’s going to pull every string he has in Earthforce to get back the Babylon 5 posting. Or anything that’s not planet-side, really...

so now she has to explain to him that he’s Valen, and destined to stay on Minbar. Sheridan’s reaction would be amazing to write- contradictory, frustrated energy, partly fascinated by the odd culture that he’s spent a year aiding, and partly completely exasperated by that culture and wanting out already. Anger with the very notion of being forced to do anything because of fate, and a very worried realisation that if he was to accept the truth of this duty, it’s not in him to say no. Not when the fate of billions might depend on it. 

But then, he argues with Delenn, if he’s going to be Valen then his destiny is to fight Shadows, and it might just be that he needs this experience to help save Minbar’s past. They settle on a temporary compromise; Sheridan’s given the first White Star to captain for as long as the war continues, on a top-secret basis. No longer. 

(Sheridan sleeps very hard, his first night back in space; and she spends it watching him.)

As for what’s been happening back on the station....Nightwatch is starting to make things nasty, Sinclair’s girlfriend has vanished under mysterious circumstances, and he’s starting to question why everybody leaves him out of the loop on things. Garibaldi notes that after all the hard work Sheridan went through on Babylon 5, a lot of people are gonna be cool on any replacement- and also that anybody taking lessons from Vorlons is going to sound a little touched after a while. 

As a way of asserting his authority, and also because he shares Delenn’s philosophy that all lives are precious, Sinclair forbids Lyta Alexander to search for a possible spy who can only be uncovered via murder. Talia gets to live; Lyta makes a break for it to Vorlon space. Susan decides that her instinct to keep some of the particulars of the anti-Clark, pro-Hague campaign away from Sinclair were probably wise, if he’s going to be such an idealistic with weird delusions of godhood and mutterings about Z’ha’dum- concerns that Garibaldi makes light of. Even after Sinclair falls out of a tube and gets saved by an angel in front of half the station. 

Season Three, Sheridan’s on the White Star and Sinclair’s on Babylon 5, with Delenn splitting her time between both (Lennier is concerned that Delenn is plunging through Minbar relationship rituals with accuracy but unseemly speed.) Sheridan offers Vir a few tips about life on Minbar. Sinclair concentrates on maintaining Babylon 5′s diplomatic status, trying to walk the line between keeping the station’s ideals and keeping in with Clark’s administration. All’s going well until some idiot blows up a ship at Ganymede, whereupon martial law is declared and everything goes haywire. Sinclair reluctantly declares that Babylon will secede, but emphasizes the unarmed, neutral nature of the station (he previously forbade the GROPOS crew from using the place as a base for combat operations, which is helpful in terms of propaganda and unhelpful in that the station still doesn’t have a decent defence grid).

“Is he seriously expecting God to reach out of the heavens to save us?“ Susan asks Garibaldi, in complete exasperation. 

“...when a guy like Jeff asks, it might just happen.“

Severed Dreams happens, with everything much the same as before except that Sheridan comes riding in with Delenn to save the day. ISN declares Sheridan a Minbari-tainted traitor, and the White Star attracts a good deal of fascination. Nobody cares about Sinclair, still. Franklin asks if they arranged it this way on purpose, with one dramatic hooligan drawing attention away from that station’s real work. Sinclair smiles and says nothing.

Some time later, Garibaldi spends an annoying day stuck in Grey Sector, and shoots a monster with some old-fashioned bullets. Nothing else happens that days. 

The campaign to fight the Shadows is progressing, slowly but surely, and the scope of Sinclair’s behind-the-scenes work is becoming slowly evident; he’s been quietly soothing small conflicts from breaking into worse conflicts, garnering favour with alien governments, and there’s a sturdy compact of ships to join up with the White Star fleet. All seems well, until Catherine comes back to Babylon 5 for the first time in months- and asks Sinclair to come with her to Z’ha’dum. 

Kosh says that this is not the time. Sinclair ignores the Vorlon and asks Sheridan for a White Star; Sheridan reluctantly agrees. 

Time passes. Sinclair doesn’t come back. But Shadow ships start coming out, attacking everywhere- many, many Shadow ships, far more than anyone had expected, or even thought possible. Despite a huge smoldering crater in their planet.) 

The Babylon 5 crew take council in the War Room, how to proceed next; and Sheridan gives a rousing speech to the Non-Aligned Worlds about honouring Sinclair’s memory, by putting up the best resistance they can. The appeal to martyrdom works; the anti-Shadow alliance vows that they will fight on whatever the cost. 

“You have forgotten something,” Kosh says to Sheridan. 

And Sheridan looks at the Vorlon, out at the planet below, and knows he can’t delay any longer, that the full fury of the Shadow forces must be lessened a thousand years earlier. Epsilon III is waiting for him. 

Delenn goes with him. So does Ivanova, who won’t let her old captain go without one last mission, so does Marcus, following the One. They ride the station backwards in time; Sheridan’s previous encounter with the rift causes him to age- but very strangely. Zathras clucks and tells him that he’ll probably only have twenty years more to live, though you wouldn’t know it by looking at him. 

Station prepared, there’s nothing left to be done but take leave of each other. Marcus offers to go back instead, and Sheridan sharply tells him not to play tempter; Susan salutes her old captain, and thanks him for giving them all a chance. Delenn stands before him, waiting, and can only say she has no ritual for this. 

All Sheridan can say, through his own tears, is that if his sacrifice shapes a world that’ll nurture her one day, it’ll be worth it- 

and Sinclair walks through the door, serene as none of them have ever seen him before. 

“When did you get here?“ Susan asks. 

“Before,” Sinclair says, in obliquely Vorlon fashion; and provides little more explanation when he’s pressed. Franklin was right, he explains; Catherine was a Shadow of her former self, quite literally, the Army of Light needs its martyr more than a figurehead, the universe needs him no longer- not here, that is. But it could use him elsewhere. A thousand years in the past...

“But who are you, to think yourself Valen?“ Delenn asks him, uncertain, unwilling to take hope too easily. 

“One who came back from Z’ha’dum alive.” Sinclair takes the triluminary, and it glows blue at his touch...

(Back on Babyon 5, Sheridan and Delenn talk the matter to pieces. How the triluminary must have reacted to shared ancestors in either direction, human or Minbari. Whether it requires Vorlon-inspired madness, to carry through the attempt at godhood. If she would have risked paradox, to follow him back; if he would have shirked duty, to stay.)

But that’s all for the future. 

For now?

Nothing more or less than a miracle. 

[radiantseraphina]

LETS DO SOME LADIES TONIGHT: you got any headcanons for garlude, tiff, ribbon, or sirica?

Garlude

Garlude’s husband (or whoever you see as being Silica’s father) didn’t want Garlude to join the GSA, but she did anyway. This is partly why Silica is told that Meta Knight is responsible for her mother’s death; Silica’s father blames Meta Knight in particular, but also the GSA for Garlude’s death.

I kind of always liked the idea that Garlude somehow knew that she would end up dying in trying to retrieve Galaxia and went anyone out of love for Meta Knight.

She was older than both Meta Knight and Jecra.

I also headcanoned her as being one who often had to rescue Jecra from quests gone wrong (at least, before Meta Knight).

She was initially suspicious upon meeting Meta Knight, but she warmed up to him over time; she liked his snark and his determination.

Hid chocolate stashes really high up, assuming that Meta Knight and Jecra couldn’t find them. This kept Jecra from finding them.

Tiff

Followed in her father’s footsteps by becoming cabinet minister but always preferred biology to politics.

I like to think that she eventually kind of became Escargoon’s pseudo-student; after all, he is a doctor and wrote a book on botany.

Went through a ~romantic goth~ phase where she insisted on being called Theophania. 

Tiff’s view of Kirby as a sort of surrogate son comes partly from her taking care of Tuff when he was a baby.

Post-series, Tiff starts trying to systemically catalog all Kirby’s abilities and to learn more about his species.

Eventually, she probably wanted to travel and see other places; I imagine she and Silica probably went around together for a while.

Ribbon

The fairies follow a sort of pseudo-magical way of electing a new ruler (the planet decides, there’s a magical ceremony, etc.), and the planet itself is connected to its ruler. Ribbon is next to rule, so the Fairy Queen is her mentor. This is why Ribbon specifically is sent away with the shard; she’s very young, but she is next in the line of succession (and if the Fairy Queen dies, the planet will survive because of Ribbon, but if they both die, Ripple Star will die, too).

Because the ruler of Ripple Star is connected directly to the fate of the planet, the ruler is seen, in a way, as being the same person. The ruler is always “the Fairy Queen/King,” which is why the queen remains unnamed.

She eventually becomes an incredibly powerful crystal mage.

She does have a crush on Kirby.

Adeleine is her best friend and post-series chooses to live on Ripple Star; there, she studies how to better her art magic.

The fairies are very nature mischievous, but they aren’t cruel.

The fairies are very social with other places and planets (which is why Ribbon is so willing to accept help) and really place importance on being diplomatic and avoiding conflict.

Sirica

Probably becomes a bounty hunter or an “archaeologst.”

Never officially joins the GSA but does work with them

Makes awkward jokes about “the time she tried to kill Meta Knight”

Never learns how to properly land a battle ship

Trolls Dedede in her spare time...but she’s not very good at trolling, so a lot of her “trolls” are taken seriously. So it’s...not good.

She and Knuckle Joe probably become friends. (Actually, I think it would be kind of poetic if Sirica, Knuckle Joe, and Kirby eventually became, like, a band of roving...do-gooders? Team who fights dark forces?)

Keeps tabs on Meta Knight a lot, but doesn’t talk to him very much. 

[who-gives-a-ship]

Hello. I guess I'm sending this because I need to vent about this. I am leaving jjba fandom. I was quite a big artist here and made a lot of friends. I never cared for shipping and never took it seriously and only liked selfshipping sometimes. So not being a shipper kind of gave me an outside look on the discourse. It seems so ridiculous. So many of my friends were at each other's throats because of such a silly thing as ships. It became a cesspool. 1/2

2/2 So the fandom has become increasingly upsetting and uncomfortable to be a part of. I've seen displays of ridiculous pettiness that I couldn't tell anyone about because I had a lot of followers and that would definitely blow up. I got into other media and only plan to post fanart and not interact with the fans or get involved in any fandom drama. I am free from this fandom and it feels so good.

-----------

First of all, I’m glad you’re doing better. It’s always the right choice to prioritize your own mental health over fandom stuff. The JJBA fandom will miss you, but what really matters is that you’re doing okay.

This fandom can be tough sometimes. I’m lucky because I have a small group of pro shipping friends who also make great art and I don’t really need a huge social circle, so that’s enough for me. If I see something ridiculous, I can always post it in our group chat server and we can all laugh about it together. Not everybody is fortunate enough to have a support network like that. Sometimes I joke that the JJBA fandom is stuck with me and that’s partly because my reaction to getting hate is to dig in my heels and stay out of spite. Sometimes it’s too much for even me and I just hang out on Pixiv for a while. I can’t read Japanese, so if they’re arguing, I can’t tell.

This fandom isn’t V0ltr0n, but it’s just as bad in some places. I don’t blame you for leaving. As much as I love the JJBA fandom, I know it’s not a safe place. I hope this whole anti shipping trend dies harder than Bruce Willis. I know this is out of character for me, but fuck antis. Fuck them for making people scared of the things they love and turning their favorite series into a bunch of bad memories. Fuck those bullying assholes and their self-righteous attitudes and their constant stream of insults. They don’t deserve something as good as JJBA.

If you want to vent more, feel free to send in more asks or message me privately. I’m here to listen.

Fun fact: Ligers are illegal in Taiwan.

[btsandvmin]

A Vmin throwback - 2017

Is it just me who’s kind of tired of seeing “*insert ship* is dead” all the time? I mean it’s not just with Vmin, but I’ve seen it a lot when people talk about Jimin and Taehyung’s relationship lately. I don’t get it. I mean some just say it as a joke, and that’s fine I guess. But at the same time people seem to get the image that Vmin aren’t as close any more, and I think even those jokes can play a part in that.

However, my biggest complaint is simply that people seem to forget so quickly. Like I agree that BST era had a ton of Vmin moments and interactions. Possibly because Taehyung was going through a really tough period and Jimin did his best to cheer him up and support him. But just because they aren’t attached 24/7 that doesn’t mean that 2017 haven’t given us some really outstanding Vmin moments. So, to remind you all that Vmin is very much alive I’ve done a small (read HUGE) recap post to just show you a few things that we actually got for 2017.

First 2017 was off to a great start with ISAC. 

You see that when Vmin get the free time to do what they want, without supervision, they tend to spend that time together. Separation issues? We already know they have them. Remember Jimin looking lost and searching for Taehyung? Jimin basically clung to Tae that whole day.

Just a few things that happened on ISAC was Jimin clinging to Taehyung, playing with his hair, listening to music together and of course the spanking.

Jimin got some butt smacking done too.

Also, they took selfies and made finger hearts towards each other. They only took photos with their two drawn poster images too. Oh, and they danced towards each other.

This and even more was all in just one day, one day where they chose to stay close and played around freely. (One day on the event that is considered a dating ground for Korean Idols.)

This video is 14 minutes long (I would have made a video of my own if I had the time) and doesn’t even cover all of the great Vmin moments from that day!

Anyways, moving on from ISAC despite there being material enough for a post of it’s own.

So we know Vmin has a hard time being apart. Remember Jimin letting us know he missed his oppa?

We also had some confirmed jealousy as well, no “look at that stare”-kind of jealousy (though we got that too).

...But actual jealousy from Jimin regarding Tae hanging out with other people and saying he loves his Hwarang hyungs. 

Jimin even got asked about it in an interview and not only admitted to it, but Tae thought it was cute, and Jimin even asked his other friends about it.

And maybe we didn’t get any pure Vmin vlives, but we did get a lot of vmin from various Vlives throughout the year.

Jimin and V crashing JK’s vlive together in their pajamas. Most likely they shared a room or were at least together before getting to JK’s room.

Tae and Jimin talking about each other’s birthday presents on Vlive, and almost spoiling it for each other. 

Also Tae talking about Jimin’s previous Vlive showing he watched it. (I am starting to think V can’t go a full Vlive without mentioning Jimin)

Jimin thinks Taehyung is so handsome (Nr 1 most handsome face in the world 2017) and wants to hang a picture of Tae on his wall.

During one vlive Tae talked about how Jimin’s adlib was his favorite part.

And in another one he also mentioned how Jimin should do a cover because he can’t shut up about Jimin.

Also remember Taehyung talking about going shopping with Jimin during his Vlive in May? And getting the tiger pendant and the Gucci belts that they both keep wearing? 

Also, how they went to the museum im New York together and later on for Taehyung’s “hobby section” there were two pictures of Jimin. Basically showing Jimin is Taehyung’s interest.

Actually they’ve taken a lot of pictures of each other and together this year and most of it we’ll never get to see. 

Just because they don’t post it doesn’t mean they haven’t taken any.

We know this, but sadly I can’t show all the examples due to lack of time.

There are several other examples... Alas I can’t include them all.

Also remember that conversation Vmin had in the fanclub chat?

Not only did Jimin try to call out Tae in the middle of the night just to bicker with him. Tae also more or less exposed that he has nudes of Jimin.

Jimin also posted this super sensual sounding video of him saying “ Kim Taehyung, do it. I told you to do it.” It’s about passing on doing aegyo but that voice is killing me...

So, there are plenty of Vmin videos and photos out there. They just might not want to share them all. ;)

And do I need to remind you that Gayo track 10 was a thing that happened? It was Vmin all over that episode.

No matter when they keep on complimenting each other, Jimin even got flustered.

The Gayo episode where they made an MV for Spinebreaker and Vmin just looked at each other to confirm they were a team. 

All that dancing together. And Tae saying Jimin’s smile makes him forget his blue feelings.

Then we have all the Run episodes. Remember the jail episode, with V saying Jimin’s crime is being cute and also plenty of clingy Jimin moments.

When in the waterpark we got a bunch of cute Vmin moments. 

We got a lot of Vmin from these episodes, even though they cut out their turn in the waterslide for some reason. We even got a moaning Tae getting a massage, come on! 

Ice-skating and taking pictures for each other again. 

Also, being on the same team for the sled-curling and being sweet, Jimin thanking V for his achivements. Also we can’t forget Tae cheering for Jimin in his race against JK and then going straight to hug him after he lost. (Look how cute Jimin is, smiling at Tae coming to him.)

Pretty much every Run episode has had some Vmin. Like when Tae helps Jimin cook to his best ability? This is why we need Vmin on the same team more often. All those soft moments! 

And also Yoongi telling them to hug, but they already did.

You should let them be together, they obviously want to.

If they were allowed to pick for themselves more often I’m sure we’d get a lot of Vmin on the same team.

Like here, where Jimin really, really, wanted to dress Taehyung and even picked out an outfit specifically for him. (Also, bonus couple necklace)

The best part though, is that even if Vmin doesn’t end up on the same team they still manage to gravitate towards each other.

Even if they compete against each other they can’t help but flirt and distract one another.

They just have to touch and goof around.

I love bickering Vmin.

But I have to move on from Run, it’s taking all the space.

So, moving on, just a few different moments worth reminding you all of.

Remember when Jimin wasn’t allowed to dance? A Tae kept going to him to make him feel included.

Even RM ships them.

Speaking of RM... There’s also V bringing up Jimin writing him a birthday letter when asked who’s romantic in the group and RM refusing to translate the “I love you.”

Jimin and V talking about going to the Sapporo snow festival and playing in the snow together.

Oh, and what about Jimin climbing on top of Tae and groping his butt while lying on him in bed?  (There were also that soft moment where Jimin fixes Tae’s hair. The duality of Vmin.)

Then we have the BT21 where Tata is basically based on Jimin, and Jimin thinks it’s meaningful because Tae used to draw it a lot.

V just has to compliment Jimin and Jin is so done. (Seriously, Jimin is on Tae’s mind 24/7)

We also can’t forget 4 O’Clock, a song which content was partly inspired by the feeling Tae felt as he waiting for Jimin at dawn.

There is of course also the sun and moon theme that became pretty obvious with Vmin this year.

We even got a Vmin photo to celebrate 95z Day from their producer with “Caught in a lie” as the tagline.

The whole second season of Bon Voyage was filled with Vmin moments.

Remember how Taehyung just bought a gift to Jimin randomly? Which was a snowglobe with a couple in it?

Constantly finding each other when blindfolded to the point they just gave up and held hands.

Them softly by the sea, Jimin holding on to Taehyung.

Them ending up being nostalgic and talking about their late night walk at the harbour in Kobe. And also late night walks where they gazed at the stars. Every night!

Remember those separation issues? Yeah, they even swam with their arms around each other.

Jimin ordering a burger because he knew Taehyung might not like his. And then feeding Tae with said burger.

Whatever this chase was, look at Tae teasing Jimin like in some romantic parody gesture.

Taehyung wanting to go look at tattoos with Jimin (and getting a henna sun and moon).

Taehyung sneakily trying to get Jimin to cook for him, but failing. And Jimin who just keeps complimenting Tae.

Just to mention a few, because Vmin is ALWAYS ALIVE!

And of course the big one, which will definitely get its own chapter in the Vmin history: Taehyung’s letter!

Of course it’s also good to note on how Jimin doesn’t think anyone else understands why Tae cry and what they are both feeling, not even the members. Intimacy on another level.

I could have made several posts just for Bon Voyage alone!

Another random moment: Taehyung had a nightmare and admitted to going to Jimin’s room to sleep together. Jimin also gave Taehyung a dreamcatcher after.

And we have some really nice concert moments too of course.

Maybe you all magically forgot Jimin running and jumping into Taehyung’s arms? And maybe all those lovely moments when Jimin couldn’t dance is something that didn’t really happen.

Spring Day also kind of deserves its own chapter for Vmin this year. Just look at them flirting!

And this funny yet soft moment when Vmin was in the balloon together. Look at Jimin leaning against Tae.

There was also the annual flirting at awards shows, when they sit together and can’t stop themselves. Taehyung getting his hands on the jibooty without any shame.

That wink Tae gave Jimin during the Billboard awards, what was that for? Remember them being clingy again and sitting next to each other for awards? Or maybe Tae staring some more at the jibooty?

There are so many moments that I just couldn’t include, because this post is already too long.

And these aren’t even all moments, but just a collection of the ones we actually get to see. If anyone can say that Vmin is dead after they’ve witnessed Taehyung’s letter to Jimin they are just fooling themselves, because it’s obviously not true. Basically this year has been super good for Vmin, just like 2016, people just seem to forget faster now. They’ve also been a lot more private, and maybe they’ve together less on shows, but still as prominent in their own free time. So yeah, Vmin isn’t dead, and it won’t be for a long time. I for one is looking forward to 2018 and plenty of new Vmin moments to come.

So, Happy New Year and don’t you dare say Vmin is dead.