#Also don't expect frequent posting or like... Same fandom posting

[kirdoodl]

Coughs

[dinarosie]

hi i am actually very interested in the fact that you are "anti-marauders" because i have a strong feeling you've never actually had a conversation with a (real, not tik-tokified) marauders fan. i don't particularly "hate" snape, but i do NOT think he's a good person. i have a lot of similar nuanced feeling pertaining to peter, and i will admit that james and sirius are often childish and did bully snape. i've decided to reread half-blood prince, and rewatch the movie, so i can have a real conversation of my opinion on snape, and i will send in another ask later.

also, sectumsemprus (is that it?) is his SIGNATURE spell- for reference, voldemort's signature spell is avada kedavra, and harry's is probably expelliarmus. do you know how many times you have to use a spell for it to become your signature spell?

Hi there! Thanks for reaching out.

First, I want to clarify that I use anti-Marauders tags not because I created this blog solely to spread hate against them or to harass their fans, but because it’s a general Tumblr rule. For nearly any post criticizing a character, you’re expected to use anti tags, as fans of that character might not want to see critical posts about their favorite. This ensures fans who may not want to see criticism of their favorite characters can filter or avoid it if they choose.

Now, you mentioned that I probably haven’t talked to a “real” Marauders fan, which is why I have anti-Marauders posts. But honestly, I don’t think all fans of the Marauders share the same views, nor is it possible to talk to every fan before making a post. I see a lot of anti-Snape content daily—much of it from Marauders fans—and often get an idea for a post that I decide to share. I imagine most bloggers do this; it’s part of engaging with fandoms online. I try to offer thoughtful critiques when possible, but that does take time. Sometimes, seeing particularly harsh, illogical, or double-standard comments pushes me to post a short, sarcastic response—one that mirrors the style of some of the content I encounter.

Overall, I wouldn’t call myself “anti All of Marauder fans.” Yes, I use terms like “Marauders fans” and “anti-Marauders” tags, but my issue is only with fans who unreasonably hate Snape and mock him (even for things like his background) or who attack Snape supporters, labeling them with hurtful terms simply for supporting him. Outside of those specific cases, I have no problem with other fans.

As for your question about Sectumsempra, I understand you’re suggesting it became Snape’s “signature” spell through frequent, harmful use. I looked up the reference you mentioned, and here’s the passage from Deathly Hallows where Lupin speaks of Sectumsempra:

“He lost his hood during the chase. Sectumsempra was always a specialty of Snape’s. I wish I could say I’d paid him back in kind, but it was all I could do to keep George on the broom after he was injured, he was losing so much blood.”

It’s worth noting the term Lupin uses here: specialty, not signature. Sectumsempra first appears in Half-Blood Prince as an unknown spell by an unnamed creator. After Harry uses it on Malfoy, it’s still an unfamiliar spell until Snape admits to creating it at the end of the book. But in Deathly Hallows, right after the Battle of the Seven Potters, Sectumsempra becomes widely associated with Snape (via Lupin’s words).

While in Half-Blood Prince the goal is to keep the creator of this spell anonymous, in Deathly Hallows it’s crucial to know exactly who used Sectumsempra during the Battle of the Seven Potters. The inconsistency here seems intentional. The author isn’t referencing Sectumsempra’s notoriety here to highlight Snape’s past; rather, I believe she brings it up as an important clue about the future. This clue gains significance after we view Snape’s memories, especially after reading Dumbledore’s line to him just before the Battle of the Seven Potters:

And Severus, if you are forced to take part in the chase, be sure to act your part convincingly… I am counting upon you to remain in Lord Voldemort’s good books as long as possible, or Hogwarts will be left to the mercy of the Carrows..."

But in THE PRINCE’S TALE, we see that Snape defies Dumbledore’s advice—he steps out of his role as a Death Eater and targets another Death Eater with a spell that’s highly conspicuous, one that could jeopardize his cover. (If successful, and had it hit another Death Eater, they would have immediately recognized the spell as Snape’s own.) So why would Snape make such an irrational choice? Why take such a risk? To save the life of Remus Lupin.

This scene is one of many that show Snape’s growth and commitment to doing the right thing—not out of loyalty to Lily, not for Dumbledore, nor for any personal reward.( And that's exactly why, in the chapter where Snape's true loyalty and the real story behind him are finally revealed, this spell and its backstory are brought up.) As he admitted in his iconic line to Dumbledore, he had grown weary of watching lives be lost when he had the power to save them. Whether it’s an old bully, Lucius and Narcissa’s son, or James and Lily’s, Snape steps in without hesitation to protect a life—even if it endangers his own

Another reason I don’t believe the author’s aim here is to highlight Snape’s crimes as a Death Eater is that there are numerous scenes throughout the series discussing Snape’s actions during that time. Yet, we never see any indication or hint from the author that Snape committed serious harm or atrocities while serving as a Death Eater. In fact, in his argument with Bellatrix, it’s mentioned that Snape actively tried to avoid participating in missions. During his planning conversations with Dumbledore, we’re also told that his soul has never been tainted by murder. And in Karkaroff’s trial, there’s no crime or accusation he can use against Snape.

[mysterycitrus]

Hey!! Love your art and your meta posts. I was wondering about your thoughts on something because I don't think I've ever really read about much of it in canon (might be missing something though), but do the batkids have their own Brucie Wayne-esque personas? I figure they'd be expected to act a certain way, like they've been taking in by a party loving play boy, they're gonna be a at least somewhat spoilt social butterflies right? I just can't stop thinking about the kids hitting like teenhood and having to adopt and put on that kind of act because it would be a little suspicious if nothing about Brucie rubbed off on them. Maybe they steal Bruce's cars or crash a gala, something staged just for the tabloids like that. Idk, I just find the idea of (most of) the kids not being raised anything like that and having to act up in the name of keeping their identities safe really interesting because I don't think they'd find it fun, I think it would actually gross them out to throw around money and act like brats.

lovely anon this is SUCH a fun question and i shall answer it in parts. the first is this — what is the purpose of the bruce wayne persona?

bruce created a specific public image of himself for several reasons — to deflect any suspicion that he’s batman, to justify his frequent disappearances from the public eye, and to be consistently underestimated by people he was in opposition with (gothams corrupt elite, the gcpd, etc). the popular interpretation of this is that he’s like a kardashian, but to be honest id say he’s a lot more like a donatella versace— relatively reclusive but who occasionally pops up doing the weirdest shit ever. he posts on dick’s insta like bruce WAYNE ❤️

wrt his kids, no, i don’t think many of them have that sort of glamorised persona. part of it is that the “gala” trope in fandom just…… doesn’t really exist in the comics? like bruce will take vicki vale to an event, or go to a luthercorp thing to gather intel, but the idea of everyone hitting up an event at the gotham four seasons is not a common story beat. and even then, again, the performance has a purpose outside of just being a distraction.

in particular, u have to consider how his kids are different from bruce. jason and dick were both lower class, if not actively below the poverty line and acting spoiled won’t win them any favours. cass straight up isn’t interested in that kind of performance. damian is honest to a fault. duke has his own family that he’s proud of. when u consider that damian and cass and duke and dick also aren’t white, u have to think about how acting like a glitzy idiot would help them in the same way it would bruce. short answer — it very much wouldnt. many people will think less of them regardless. it would be dehumanising, and because none of them have that same degree of disconnection from the standard person that bruce has, how would them being seen as spoiled idiots help them?

dick has always lived with civilian neighbours, had civilian jobs, and fostered civilian relationships. him being a cop was bad, but he takes a lot of pride in being someone who’s like… dependable. a good neighbour. jason is legally dead, but he wouldn’t have wanted to be seen as the dumb poor kid either. cass would probably play with peoples expectations of her, but not like an established persona that she has to take on. duke is, again, very attached to his family and where he grew up, and is very aware of assumptions people might make about that. damian would rather kill himself than pretend to be an idiot. tim, again, is a strong maybe, but i also don’t think he’d give a shit. he really values keeping himself as tim drake intact, away from robin. he wants to keep being himself.

i just think most of them would stay out of the public eye. remember — bruce isn’t active online. there is still massive control over released information about him, especially with babs. i think they would purposely make themselves boring and unassuming.

the short answer is that none of them, truly, possess bruce’s raw commitment to the bit.

[olderthannetfic]

Whenever I see the "there is no F/F content in fandoms, fandoms hate women" discussion on Tumblr, all I can think of is a phrase that is guaranteed to enrage half the Tumblr fandom audience, maybe more: "Have you tried imageboards?".

When I was younger, I used to frequent different anime and cartoon-themed imageboards. Big ones like 4Chan's /a/ and /co/, smaller ones meant for specific fandoms or kinks, non-English ones in my native language, you name it. The users were mostly straight men, and the F/F content and shipping flourished there. The "waifu threads" exclusively dedicated to gushing about female blorbos. The wast majority of kink content involving fictional women, either alone, with a nondescript self-insert man or with each other. The F/F fanart, fanfiction and ideas were just limitless, to the point where you would struggle to find one or two discussions about the guys in the midst of everyone celebrating the women.

The anime, cartoon or comic has a cast full of women? They will all get love. Women and men both? Women will generate much more discussion. One or two women amidst the cast full of men? People will mostly post about the two women, deal with it. Sure, there were designated boards and threads for the male characters, but good luck expecting there to be as much activity as there were in the waifu threads. The fandoms with lots of female characters, such as Touhou Project, thrived on these grounds, and much F/F shipping was had by everyone.

Now, of course, the imageboard culture is an entire separate beast. Right-leaning, edgy, bigoted - basically, what you get if you put a bunch of ostracized and lonely cishet male nerds in an echo chamber and let them feed each other bullshit all day long. A lot of the F/F art they made was sexual in nature, something that could be decried as sexualisation, but, the way I remember it, it was not much different from what is often done to male characters by straight women who ship M/M because they find the two dudes hot. A lot of gushing about waifus by the anonymous 4Chan dudes could be seen as misogynistic, despite the language being practically the same as when a Tumblr fandom girl is describing her blorboman and the things she wants to see done to him.

It all comes down to the the real life influencing the way we interact with fiction: male sexuality is viewed in a different light than female sexuality, despite both being more or less demonized in our society, just in different ways. Men are always predators, women are always victims. When a guy has sexual fantasies about a female character, he is a creep who wants to hurt real life women to enact these fantasies. When a woman has sexual fantasies about male characters, she cannot tell fiction from reality and is at risk of getting hurt by men while trying to enact these fantasies. And if either of them fantasizes about a same-sex couple, they are fetishizing queer people, obviously.

However, that's just how people roll - you cannot change what gender you are attracted to, and people with similar attractions stick together. It just so happens that the fandom side of Tumblr largely consists of straight women and queer men, so you get ships with guys, while the fandom side of 4Chan and the like largely consists of straight men, so you get ships with women. Both sides also happen to have cultures that don't mix well, and someone who frequents one place is likely to avoid the other.

I don't frequent 4Chan anymore, and I'm not big on fandom Tumblr, either, but Tumblr continues to be the unique place where I am more likely to stumble upon erotic fandom content featuring men than women, who are the majorly discussed and shipped characters practically everywhere else. I obviously do not excuse 4Chan's bigotry and rampant hateful bullshit, but my point still stands: if you want to see more F/F shipping and discussions of girl blorbos, but don't feel like making some yourself and creating a like-minded community on Tumblr, you should try your luck elsewhere on the Internet, especially when it comes to anime and cape comic fandoms. Tumblr is a unique place in terms of male-centric fandom content, and honestly, it's not that bad, if Tumblr isn't the only place you find your stuff at. It simply occupies a specific niche and doesn't offer much of everything else (though you can still find it if you look).

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Now, be fair: plenty of imageboards are full of nominally straight guys who love millions of female blorbos... and art of Link getting wrecked.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

WIBTA if I told a very poor person to stop asking me for money?

(🧍‍♂️💸 for ez finding, names are fake for obv reasons)

I (21, any prns) met Pink (21, she/they) in a fandom-specific RP server about a year ago. Everyone was (and still is) very nice, including Pink, the server owner. Pink and her family are very poor, barely even making rent, and she often plugged her donation posts in the server announcements channel (this happened a lot. at one point there was even a donations channel just for her). I didn't really mind because desperate times call for desperate measures, ya gotta do what ya gotta do, y'know?

About nine months ago (mid september) I decided to pay something for her (it was either the remains of her rent or her meds, I forgot which). I did it because I felt like it, and it wasn't much. I figured if I could make someone's life a little easier, I might as well. Then about a month later (last week of October) she DM'd me, also about meds. She seemed apologetic and honestly kinda desperate. I figured if she was going this far it was probably by necessity, so I sent money again. She asked about paying me back, but I declined the offer since when I give people money I pretty much expect it to be Gone lol. She asked me again for money twice within that week for some Emergency Essentials. I obliged the first time but gently refused the second. I work retail, I'm not made of money...

She didn't contact me again about this until early December, due to an overdraft. I declined because of a vet appointment and also Xmas shopping. Plus, I was in kind of a tight spot myself at the time (from around Nov-March I had to be really careful with my spending). She asked again in mid-December for rent money, to which I obliged. It was the last time I gave her anything. She then had *another* rent emergency at the very end of December, which I refused because I Have Bills. I should mention that some of these emergencies were not posted publicly (i.e. in the server) - she was asking me, personally, for help. Nobody else, at least as far as I know. Maybe she DMs everyone who sends money her way. I have no way of knowing.

In mid-January she asked me again for rent money, to which I politely declined due to my own financial struggles, and stated that I probably wouldn't be in a better position to donate until April. She seemed to understand and wished me well.

...until recently. She's made a habit of asking me for money again. Not as frequently as before (about once every 2-3 months. she did this in late May and again around march), but it does happen. I thought about telling her off the first time, but I wanted to compose myself lest I say something really mean, but by the time I felt like responding, she deleted it. Maybe she realized it was embarrassing? I don't know. This also happened with the May message. I was super inactive in the server by then due to being busy with Life Stuff. I've wanted to chat in it again lately because everyone else (including Pink, at least in overall demeanor) but it's kind of awkward when I have the literal owner DMing me for cash every few months.

At this point, I'm at the end of my rope. I want her to stop. It makes me seriously uncomfortable how she only ever contacts me to ask for money. Not even my closest friends of almost a decade - who also have financial struggles of their own - would ask me personally for money, and Pink is barely more than a friendly acquaintance. But at the same time I know she's only doing any of that *because* her situation is so desperate. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and it feels rather two-faced to turn my back on her now.

WIBTA?

[oro-kapi]

after god observations

so I've read After God 6 months ago but recently in October it just absolutely out of nowhere FULLY seized my hyperfixation to a level so intense I'm genuinely so startled. I haven't felt this normal about a piece of media in YEARS holy moly.

the English fandom is so miniscule so hella I was SO happy to find there's an After God tumblr corner. anyway first post, hello anyone who stumbles across these ramblings... warning this gets kinda rambly but it's just me being gushy about the series.

abt me I don't actually frequent tumblr that much, I'm kinda new in terms of experience, although I just have some social anxiety over talking about things I like publicly so I hope this sideblog gives me a little bit of strength talking to the void. I need a place where I can go INSANE over this series anyway WAHOO!! maybe will also post fanart in the future also, maybe!

there seems to be a much larger fanbase in Japan (mangaplus/urasunday where the original Japanese is posted gets hundreds of comments as opposed to English's official publisher on comikey. albeit I don't think comikey's the best at making it accessible either). Mangaplus/urasunday do post the latest 1-2 After God chapters for free on the website btw for folks who like to read ahead. Unfortunately anything before the latest 2 chapters is region-locked to the app and I don't really want to bother trying to figure out how to get it but that's what I'm mostly aware of.

I've seen some mixed reviews in the English side, though there's only a handful really out there, but most times I feel people are missing the point!!!! AHHHHHH!!!

when I first read the series 6 months ago, I didn't think of it that much except it shared some similar ideas to my own existing original work I thought would be cool to draw some inspiration off of. I'm honestly not really sure what happened in october, but I think it started because I gave it a second reread. And SO MUCH suddenly clicked. I didn't skim the dialogue as much and began to reexamine scenes and panels with the foresight of the later chapter events. And I fell absolutely in love. preordered and got the first volume in english on release date yippee!!

the first volume or chapters 1-8 is admittedly pretty much an exposition dump, but I think that rough start is kinda to be expected for most series trying to get a reader hooked into a new world. chapters 9-20 are really where things start kicking. It leads you to think Kamikura Waka is shounen-type protagonist like one chosen hero vs the big threat, but then breaks down into a more raw, mature look at the complicated lives of normal people who're just trying to survive, find their own happiness, and fight threats they only somewhat comprehend.

are IPOs really that different from humans? But not in the sense "humans are worse and gods are better" or "humans are better and gods are worse", but in the sense that "we're all equally messy in the same way, just trying to exist because that's all we know what we want to do."

I feel it's a story that needs to be read with the attempt to understand the characters as people with layers of contradiction and their relationships with one another. That's where so much of the meat and the weight of After God comes from for me, and many of these "this was disappointing" reviews don't really seem to even notice that part at all or tend to be confused why the characters act the way they do.

/// spoilers ahead!! talking about some of my observations and thoughts

I can't really remember where it was if there was a more explicitly stated spot that Ahu'az takes the form of what people see as most beautiful (at this point I'm wondering if I'm hallucinating this up oh god). Closest thing with the implication this is the case is in Chapter 34 when Yako/Furuya asks "what form did the God Ahu'az take for you?"

if this is the case though and it changes from person to person's perspective... then oh all the more tragic when Shion went to see Ahu'az and saw Waka/Alu'la as her most beautiful person.... DOOMED YURI, FUCK

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obikawa saying "wow it's cooler here than I expected" back in chapter 9 really gets a new perspective when you apply the later reveal how IPOs are basically born

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silly thing to wonder about, did the florescent banana tee Obikawa gave Tokinaga somehow become the saving grace that stopped him from getting eaten lol?

he is such a loser (affectionate) though like TOKINAGA YOU'RE LITERALLY 10 STEPS AWAY FROM YOUR HOUSE YOU CAN GET CHANGED!!

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Tokinaga talks about being afraid of bathtubs chapter 17, and then on a reread I noticed he is standing in front of a bathtub in chapter 3. what kind of hell happened to you my guy omfg

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I know that damn Default CSP Rubble Asset when I see it!!!!

pattern recognition throws me out of the loop a lot I work on comics in CSP as well and now I don't read webcomics the same way anymore oops. right off here I think it's pretty safe to determine After God was drawn in CSP; assets can't really be converted to other programs.

more CSP assets I recognized:

this hatching brush for the outline of Tokinaga here is ベタ線新 from this set

Nayuu's tree branches are from this set

and I'm pretty sure the water here is from this blood set, which might appear elsewhere a few times (i see these shapes in my dreams. this blood set haunts me so bad)

to be clear this isn't a critique or "using assets is bad" at all. normal readers are not going to notice these things. (in which i'm not normal i study Eno's art so intensely because i admire it so much). when making comics or other repetitively drawn works, artists will take shortcuts and should absolutely take shortcuts. it's just neat to share what tools were used for those curious!

off topic on the topic of csp if anyone would like the link, she's shared the brush she made for drawing Vollof here too!

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I can't freaking imagine how it feels to have your beloved friend melt away on your lap between your fingers like that unholy

if you squint much, you can make out both Yoriko and Tokinaga overlaid in the speech bubble, though I'm not sure what the next one really says

but ahfjhfgifgh!!! the book being animal anatomy is such a stab in the leg cherry on top

(and it's probably an art error but tokinaga's pinky is back/weirdly has a solid shape there instead of it being flabby glove. wani asks how did tokinaga get there before he and yoriko so silly weird theory its tokinaga from a different time iterative loop? wonky. probably still an art error though)

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so how did Alu'la get "reincarnated" within a human? How does an IPO get reincarnated at all? We've seen orokapi needed to eat a human to become a specific human. Alu'la definitely didn't eat a human.

We hear from Orokapi he drank seawater mixed with sewage and gained the intelligence that way. Closest I could think of are the microbiota that make up an IPO and their abilities. Maybe Waka's parents or Waka drank shit water of the sort and got the microbiota inside her that way or idfk

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Thanks Tokinaga for the "uses chopsticks to eat everything" rep 🔥🔥

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i'll leave you on that this is getting too long AHHAAHAJF thanks for reading, hope you got something cool out of this post! :]

[myfairkatiecat]

I think you're misunderstanding my point a bit, the problem is not "accidentally agreeing with someone when they also disagree with you on other points". I agree that worrying about that is silly. However both my hypothetical post and the actual post, in my opinion, have the problem of presenting a false dichotomy which is indicative of bias. "We need more single mothers in media" is a point which is completely unrelated to the much stupider point of "there are TOO MANY women with jobs in media", and the fact of the matter is that being bothered by seeing women in media who have jobs is, not inherently sexist, but certainly something you would expect more from a misogynist than a non misogynist.

Similarly the original post pairs a point that many agree with - "more fandoms/media should portray close brotherly friendships" - with an unrelated (and in my opinion, very entitled) complaint about fandoms being too gay, as if it's not possible for both gay relationships and brotherly ones to both be respected and given validity without choosing one as the correct or more valid interpretation. Or as if, as the person who responded to that post was alleging, the post was trying to imply that interpreting characters as gay is inherently worse than interpreting them as brotherly. Given that that's a very bold claim, I think supporting that claim with "btw this same person has said this on the topic of gay people irl" is quite normal?

The reason context matters is not because valid points become gross and wrong when said by the wrong person, but because valid sentiments can be used to mask other, less valid sentiments. If you agree with both points, that's one thing, but if you think complaining that fandom is just too gay is indicative of homophobia, "the person who said that has also publicly stated that they don't support the LGBT community" is relevant information in that discussion. And I frankly think that "actually, my friend thinking that fandom is too gay is completely unrelated to that same friend thinking being gay irl is sinful" is a very strange claim that I struggle to believe, in the same way I would not believe it if someone said "the fact that I get mad when I see women on TV with jobs is completely unrelated to me thinking women shouldn't have jobs because then I could sleep with them more easily".

Ok so this is the post in question by @gracefulchristiangirl:

why aren't guys allowed to have strong brotherly friendships anymore without being queer headcannoned anymore. like- not all strong relationships are because of romantic or sexual desire??? some people have life-long friendships with other guys who are literally their brothers???

Reading comprehension check: “NOT ALL strong relationships are because of romantic or sexual desire.” This post is a response to the frequent sexualization of male friendship, which feeds a culture of toxic masculinity. If showing affection is consistently interpreted as inherently gay (like posting a gif of Sam and Frodo with the caption “there is NO heterosexual explanation for this” which does happen quite frequently) then straight men are going to be discouraged from being affectionate with their friends because, understandably, they don’t want people unanimously agreeing that they must therefore be a sexuality that they aren’t.

This post is about people erasing the possibility of friendship between two men when they see a certain type of behavior, usually expressions of care or love. This isn’t a response to “I think it would be cool if Merlin and Arthur were gay so I’m going to write a fic where they’re gay,” it’s a response to “look at the way Merlin is looking at Arthur in this scene with so much love in his eyes. Look at the way he holds him tenderly ad he dies. They’re literally so gay, like wdym they aren’t lovers??” One such statement owns that it is something made up by the person with the headcanon, while the other statement makes affection between two men seem inherently romantic! I used the merlin fandom as an example because I have seen that second statement made, almost word for word, and it’s sentiments like those that make me glad for posts like the one we are discussing.

The post is not about gay people. The post is about viewing close male friendships as inherently romantic or sexual in fandom spaces, which is unfortunately very common.

This post is also not about fandom spaces being “too gay,” as you said in your ask. *wags finger like an aunt* mm-mm-mm, that’s not what OP said! She didn’t say fandom spaces were too gay!

[utilitycaster]

To expand that point about queerphobia (also, to an extent, gender equality) from the tags on someone else's post and sort of tying it back to my post yesterday about wanting to see characters work through similar experiences: I think it makes a lot of sense in the case of Exandria and Hale to build a world that does not have queerphobia and to allow people to choose to insert it if that is something their table wishes to explore. It's very much a case of wanting to build a diverse but non-utopian world that is welcoming to a wide variety of players.

I think it's a very understandable urge to want to see characters deal with the same challenges we face, and I think there are TTRPG settings that have done a good job depicting homophobia or transphobia; it's present though not common in Fantasy High, and The Unsleeping City is very close to the modern-day real world and has, well, period-typical attitudes.

The reason I get frustrated when it comes up in discussion of Exandria, and now Hale is that it's almost always used for one of two reasons: explaining why people (either specifically or generally) don't like a character; or even more frequently, explaining hesitancy between two characters in a ship. It's a convenient way to say "this person is oppressed or afraid for reasons that are objectively in no way their fault and which make the people who dislike them objectively bigoted and wrong". The problem is, while that's a valid story to tell it's often really not the story the cast is telling with these characters. Even more frustratingly, it often is used to steamroll other stories that may place those characters in just as innocent a position.

Some good examples in which this has happened in the fandom are Jester and Dorian. Jester lives on the Menagerie Coast, which is referred to a pretty wide variety of materials as being a place that is especially trans friendly (in a world where trans and nb characters already frequently occupy prominent positions and are not depicted as experiencing pushback). Her mother, a courtesan, indicates that she takes clients of varying genders. The biggest influences on her life are her mother and an otherworldly fey entity who famously can shapeshift. There is absolutely no canonical evidence that Jester would be unaware of the broad range of genders and sexualities in the world nor that she would feel obligated to embrace one that she is not; in fact there is quite strong evidence to the contrary. But if you claim that she's experiencing compulsive heterosexuality, it excuses you from having to consider that Jester is genuinely not interested in Beau, or at the very least is genuinely interested in Fjord.

Similarly, it was, at least prior to the reveals of early Campaign 3, common to headcanon that Dorian had run away from his parents because he was trans and they were transphobic. A trans reading of Dorian is still obviously entirely valid, but he left because his parents were suffocating and overbearing and often pit him against his brother. Dorian is still absolutely the victim in this! It's a valuable thing to relate to for people who have experienced parental abuse and impossible expectations. But it does still force you to think about Dorian's parents as complex people who came to this conclusion of childrearing (even if they are still in the wrong) and not just mindless bigots to be disregarded. And I think the former is nearly always a better story than the latter.

What also frustrates me is that this rarely works through the ramifications. The systemic queerphobia that would be required to put compulsory heterosexuality in place still exists once someone overcomes that and comes out; but that never comes into play when people are talking about the ship, because it's only ever used to explain why the ship hasn't happened yet, never as a significant part of the world that would affect the characters throughout their entire lives.

These are only two examples; there are countless others, some particularly egregious (*cough* Essek comes from a society that explicitly believes in reincarnation across bodies of varying genders and the queen for eternal life is in a lesbian relationship, I promise you his fraught relationships with his parents are way more complicated than simple homophobia or transphobia) but all of which seek to incorporate bigotry not as the destructive and deadly phenomenon it is, to be explored in the safe space of fiction, but as an incredibly lazy shortcut to be discarded as a continuity error once it's served its purpose.

[fae-morrigan]

sorry, i don't know who else to rant about this to and i love the posts you make on jayjon. i recently got into the ship and am annoyed by how much of a lack of fan content there is for them especially in comparison to timber. ex) there's so much more fics for them than there is for jayjon on ao3 even though the relationships started around the same time. i haven't read much timber in the comics but are they really that much better written than jayjon? is that why? as a poc i hate to think that racism is the biggest factor on why, but i could also see it playing a big part...

Youuuuu accidentally hit on something that Jayjonners have been talking about amongst ourselves for ages.

No, they are NOT better written. I say this as someone who does enjoy timbern from time to time, timbern is actually written notably worse. Megfitz, who is their primary writer, is... well, she's not great at her job, and she often falls into certain trappings that I find.... mm. I don't want to dunk too much on her & her writing here but I Have Complaints.

The reason they're so popular compared to Jayjon is twofold:

Yeah, its 100% the racism thing. Like, white favoritism in DC fandom is already bad, its especially bad with our canon gay pairings. Jayjon get very little, Jackson/Ha'wea gets NOTHING, despite both of these ships showing up more frequently or more recently than Timbern. But also, I will say, and some People Forget but I did not: A lot of Timbern fans were more than happy to engage in fandom racism towards Jay & his fans if it made them look better. Back in the day there was a lot of "lol we're soooo much better than jayjon guys dont worry" which in retrospect is FUCKING HILARIOUS but in the moment was very frustrating. White characters who are significantly less developed than their non-white counterparts will inherently be assumed to be secretly interesting, while characters of color who genuinely are a full breakfast will have their every little thing nitpicked and be labelled as 'boring' by default. This is doubly true for a character like Jay, who's race is extremely central to who he is and how his story is read.

Its also because sadly, Bats are just more popular than GOD. Any ship that has a bat in it will inevitably do better than its non-bat counterpart, because DC and DC fandom push the batfam sooooooooo fucking hard. This is an unfortunate fact of life in the DC fandom, if youre like me and you dont care so much for bats or any of the popular batships, you are in for a terrible time and I am sorry. Hilariously, DC itself also was REALLY pushing Timbern at the time. Despite TDR not selling very well, Bernard had an adaptation in Titans, while Jay has not yet ever been adapted into a movie or TV adaptation. YET. Truly it is a matter of time, so they better not fuck it up or i'll appear in their house

But the thing is, fanon popularity does not translate into the metric DC actually cares about: Sales. TD:R did extremely poorly and was cancelled after ten issues, while pretty much every teen Jon comic has reliably stayed within the top 100. Despite being a tie-in comic utilizing several c-listers, basically a recipe for guaranteed shitty placement, Absolute Power: Super Son hit around 86 on the list, which was better than any of us expected it to do. So even if fanon content might take awhile to catch up, at the end of the day, slow and steady wins the race. Pre-order Secret Six, amen.

I will also say jayjonners tend to keep to ourselves. People are mean! Like, really mean. A lot of our fan-content tends to be hidden away in private group chats and accounts, just because we get people mocking us for.... breathing. Once you start Posting about jayjon though, one of us will usually take notice and adopt you into our little circle.

[maribat-media]

A New Wave of Maribat

So, there has been talk for some time about how Maribat as a fandom is dying, or at least, people within the fandom can feel that it is not as lively as it could be.

Pondering the question, what if, a rather peculiar idea arrived. There are plenty of places on Tumblr with blogs dedicated to Maribat. Ao3 is a rather popular for content as well. However, is there not another place that people frequent quite often that could give the fandom new attention?

The answer is simple. Instagram

Now, you might be saying, "seriously? Instagram? No one goes on Instagram for Maribat."

That is exactly the point. Tumblr takeovers can be effective and gain attention, that's for sure, but why not try a different route? Instagram is a place where people share irl things yet within it is an incredible world of artists and storytellers.

Instagram could provide what the Maribat needs. A new light. People could discover this fandom for the first time in a place no one would expect.

Below is going to be information about this page for those that are intrigued by this idea, it will also allow those who do not wish to hear more the ability to continue on their scrolling.

There are a couple ways to bring Maribat to Instagram and Maribat Media is here to help with it.

Creators can either make their own Instagrams or use their existing ones to post content. Any sort of Maribat content is amazing. Get it out there for the world to see.

Understandably, not everyone is going to want to make an account or post on Instagram. Why go through the effort if you don't use the platform. Valid.

Maribat Media is here to help. We encourage people to help promote others' works across platform to get them the attention they deserve. Any piece of artwork, writing or art form, takes a lot of time and energy. @ this account in the replies of a piece shared here on tumblr and we will get in shared, only under the following conditions.

This needs to be made absurdly clear. Maribat Media will not cross post a piece of content solely by being tagged. When tagged, the creator of the post will be reached out to see if they would like their piece to be shown off on the Instagram. No means no and the creator will not be pressured to allow their piece to be published. That is rude and the exact opposite of what the admin hope to accomplish.

The best thing to do if you want a post to be placed on the Instagram is ask the creator themselves within a reply to their piece about if Maribat Media can post it. It saves all parties time, and you can easily @ this account when the creator's written permission is present.

That also goes for creators themselves! If you have a post you want to have put on Instagram but do not have an account yourself, @ Maribat Media with a request to and the admin will gladly see to it!

Events can also be requested for sharing! It is highly encouraged to have event runners who want their events to be seen to either @ or leave a request. Events are an amazing way to gain traction.

Any and All sorts of content that have been given permission to post with have proper crediting. Within the top of the description and in an extra slide of the post (unless there is not a slide available).

Ask Me Anything is always open for any questions surrounding this whole Instagram thing as well the comments to this very post. You can leave requests for content sharing in the AMA (the process will be the same as if @'d in a reply).

Finally, this is all one big attempt at trying something new. There is no knowing if this will work at all. However, there is no harm in trying. Perhaps we can give this fandom new light together.

Sincerely, Maribat Media Admin

[iamnmbr3]

❤️, 🖤 & 🤍 for the ask game!

I don't see a red heart. I do see this one though (💔) but that's answered in a previous ask so I'll ignore it.

🖤: Which character is not as morally good as everyone else seems to think?

I'm going to go with Harry Potter. Listen, there is a "Harry Potter is a terrible person" corner of the fandom but I'm not in that corner personally (though I 100% support everyone's right to their own interpretations). I do think though that Harry is a flawed person and also someone who is capable of being very deadly when he has to be and making tough calls. I feel like he often gets flattened into this hyper pure heroic archetype who could never do anything morally grey and just is unrealistically idealistic to a fault. This often goes with characterizing him as really stupid and oblivious which is not supported by canon imho and also is just so much less interesting than the dynamic character that Harry actually is.

I also think it's super interesting because this also happens to Harry in universe too. Lupin chides him over wanting to disarm Stan Shunpike rather than risk killing him and acts as though Harry is being overly squeamish about the realities of warfare and of hurting people due to being so Good and Pure TM. This is not the case. Harry is willing to take great risks to do the right thing and to save others. But he's also capable of being pragmatic. Harry was perfectly willing to shoot stunners at other Death Eaters in that scene even though he believed that could be fatal to them. He wasn't willing to do the same with Stan because he believed (probably wrongly but that's another meta post) that Stan was a victim. It was for that reason that Harry was willing to risk using nonlethal force.

In book 1 he straight up killed Quirrel. In book 2 he forced Lockhart to go into the Chamber first, putting him in a situation where me might be killed by a giant deadly snake. He also was willing to kill Diary!Riddle in self defense and didn't flinch at it. He didn't hold back with the Death Eaters in book 5 and it was Hermione, not Harry, who objected to cursing the one whose head had been de-aged to a baby. In book 7 he goes into a duel with Voldemort with the intent to kill him. He is perfectly capable of being deadly and making tough calls.

He's also perfectly able to go against what is expected of him if he doesn't agree with it. He refused to harm Stan because he believed it was wrong. He seemingly refused to incriminate Draco in book 6 (both when he didn't report him for trying to use an Unforgivable and when he seemingly only testified to MLE about Snape's role in Dumbledore's death) because he felt there were extenuating circumstances (plus he can never make himself hate Draco *cough* drarry *cough*).

He also frequently uses lies and trickery and misdirection to achieve his goals - ranging from escaping life threatening situations to trying to avoid conversations he doesn't want to have.

And that's not even getting into Harry's tendency to make snap, sometimes unfair judgements about people and to ignore the flaws of people he likes (two flaws that he improves during the later books in the series, especially book 7) and his sometimes vicious anger. These are realistic and interesting character flaws. But they are real flaws. And I think a lot of fanon tends to forget about them, which is a shame.

However, this is not to say that Harry is a bad person or incapable of making morally courageous or empathetic decisions. Which leads me to...

🤍: Which character is not as morally bad as everyone else seems to think?

Once again I'm going to go with...Harry Potter. Because on the flip side there's a corner of fandom that I think takes an overly dim view of Harry (though of course, to each their own).

Because yes Harry is absolutely a flawed person. But he's also the person who put his escape at risk in book 7 so he could rescue the Muggleborns who were on trial, who couldn't even properly use the Cruciatus Curse on Bellatrix right after he'd seen her kill Sirius (which is why I think the cavalier way it's framed when he uses it in book 7 feels super ooc and weird to me - I have sooo many thoughts on that scene but that's another meta), said he wanted to kill Sirius to avenge his parents but then couldn't kill or even hurt him when he had him at his mercy, said he wanted to kill Snape to avenge Dumbledore but then didn't even enjoy watching him die despite all their history, was so horrified by the flayed soul he saw in "King's Cross" that he genuinely made an effort to redeem Voldemort (offering him more compassion after everything he'd done then Dumbledore did at any point, even when Tom was a child - which says a lot about Harry as well as about Dumbledore), who wasn't even friends with Neville in first year but immediately confronted Draco about taking the Remembrall, who noticed right away that Ron was uncomfortable about his financial situation and set him at ease by telling him about always having to wear second hand clothes and then offered to share all the food he'd bought with him, who felt jealous and hurt when Ron was made Prefect instead of him but controlled that feeling and refused to let it rule him or to take it out on Ron, who refused to take the Triwizard Cup for himself because it didn't feel fair (unfortunately not the best call in retrospect), who was disgusted by the bullying tactics of Dudley's gang, who frequently made efforts to bolster Ron's confidence when he could see he was down or feeling insecure, who threw his entire body at a Death Eater to stop him hurting Hermione in book 5, who did everything he could to try to keep Sirius safe and his spirits up in book 5, who always gave his friends really thoughtful gifts that they liked a lot because he was able to pay close attention to their interests even when he didn't share them and so many more moments.

[shoukiko]

Hi, you can keep this unanswered and not post it, but I want to help you understand the thought behind some of the points in your criticism post. Before I start I want to apologise if I come off as blunt and rude, that's not my intention and I'll try my best to show my tone as unthreatening but I'm autistic and not a native English speaker, which complicates things lol

*general you used throughout the ask

First, I want to start with this: they all are part of the army. You don't need to dig much to see you'll rarely see a "morally upstanding" person in the army, be it because they're cheaters, abusers, compliant with all that or they're (insert -ist/-phobe category here). UK military spouses are 3 times more likely to experience intimate partner violence (IPV). I'm not saying the COD characters need to be written like that, but it wouldn't be "unrealistic" if we take real life statistics into account.

Second, and maybe the most important thing, everyone writes COD characters OOC. The majority of the active fandom on Tumblr and tiktok have seen gifs and 10min out of context clips from the game at best. It's to be expected to not frequently find something actually in character for a lot of the guys. Especially with characters that are just operators like König, Nikto and Krueger. In their case everything is and isn't OOC at the same time because we just... Don't know these characters. We lack characterisation past maybe 1-3 traits about them. I'd argue that's why the fandom liked König so much, other than being masked, he's the perfect paper doll! You can dress him up in whatever characterisation you want and it probably won't contradict his canon (because he barely has one and what he has is quickly misinterpreted (anxiety disorder turning into shyness for example)).

Now specifically on your "How are you going to hc a victim as the abuser?" - simple, whether you like to accept it or not is up to you, but it's not far fetched for victims to become abusers later in life. Just look at serial killers statistics - 74% of US serial killers were psychologically abused and 42% were physically abused as children and later in life followed a similar pattern brought to an extreme. Or on the other hand, a tamer example would be generational trauma because that's how we get that (grandparent was abused and because that's all they know, they implement it in bringing up their child who, for the same reason, implements it in bringing up the grandchild and so on).

The final thing I want to say is, it's good to block people who you don't vibe with. Doesn't matter if it's because they wrote something that personally disturbed you or you simply don't like their blog theme or you see them too often in the tag. Personally curating your experience is key in fandom, utilise the tools Tumblr has given us. Of course as you and others have mentioned that's impossible without some assistance from the other side. Tagging is extremely important (tagging with the correct words without censoring!!! Or the filter won't catch! Rape, noncon, incest ✅; r@pe, n*nc*n, 1nc*st ✖️✖️).

I hope this isn't too messy or long aaaa

I really appreciate you taking the time to type this up and actually speak to me about this, your input is very appreciated. /gen

I do think I could've done better on that post since I wrote it in the heat of the moment, all characters are written OOC and it was ignorant of me to say

"Maybe read the characters backstories and actually take their past into consideration because you guys kinda look dumb for making these characters so OOC."

I hope ya'll can really take the time to see my POV, I did not mean. any harm, I've come across some gross things, but blocking and filtering tags so much as begun to be tiring.

My main issue is tagging, without tagging I am left with getting triggered by random posts because the first few sentences may include something on my trigger list.

That's all I want and also what a lot of other people want.

Writing is meant for anyone and everyone, a form of art and perhaps a for of therapy.

Please tag your work, you are not the only person on the internet.

Thank you for reading!

[sha-biest]

I hope this isn’t rude to ask another artist but… I’m new to the Rise fandom, the only fandom I’ve ever actively tried being a part of. I don’t have much art yet so obviously I dont expect anyone to know I exsist, but I was wondering if there’s a secret to getting people to see your art, even in the beginning. Like how long does it take to get a following? or how often do you need to create for people to consider you worth they’re attention? I keep getting discouraged from posting because I feel like it’s all for nothing, even though at the same time I know it doesn’t happen over night. It especially gets to me when I see people with 10k notes on their first post after getting into the fandom yesterday. I just wanna know if there’s something I’m not doing right or if I’m just being impatient and envious

Don't worry, that's not rude at all! The following is my opinion on the subject and might not apply to everybody! First off, for me personally, I already had a following going on instagram/twitter from my previous comic. It's typically easier to get noticed sooner if you draw fanart because series already have a high following and they are simply more likely to see you! Second, often it's luck. Who reblogged/retweeted/shared your art who might already have a following. Are you drawing something that most of the fandom is interested in? For the Rise fandom it looks like they latch onto a lof of post movie media and apocalypse/bad future timeline media for example! Once you grabbed their attention you don't necessarily post daily/frequently to be able to hold it. Obviously, skill also plays a part in this but I'm a strong defender of good content even if the skills arent fully there yet. (they'll come if you persist anyway)

Last of all (and most important in my opinion, as well as the hardest part for most people I'm sure) Why do you make art? I love making art, it's my passion, my whole being and I would never ever stop drawing because of numbers. I have so much art I could instantly share, boost my following, get more numbers, be able to post more frequently etc. BUT it's for me or close friends! It's not for the world wide web to see. Take internet away and ask yourself if you'd still be drawing? What I want to say is that you shouldn't focus so much on the numbers. Of course, it's encouraging to have all these notifications pop up but it's destroying your self esteem! Keep going because you like making art/creating stories, everything else will come with patience eventually!

[shortshowname]

Guess who's finally doing a pinned post

(Might do actual art later but that's been the main point of procrastination for me for this post so BOOM mspaint)

Hey y'all it's me Shortly C. Showname

Or just Short for shor- uhhhh you get the point I'm not finishing that thought

Okay what do I even put here. Uhhh I play a bunch of cartoony games and also draw until 4am. That's it that's my pinned post.

Fandoms I draw for:

A Hat in Time Definitely my most consistent thing to get dragged back into. It's my favorite game what can I say 🎩 Even at the times it's not my main focus you can definitely at least expect me to draw the discord's art prompts when they come up

Billie Bust Up Let's just say AHIT is gonna have some competition for favorite game once this releases

Here Comes Niko Hhhhhhh ever draw the same character for 77 days in a row Honestly besides my old "Drawing Niko every day" Challenge I don't draw them that frequently, but as of writing this I AM in the middle of my Switch replay and like. I love this game so much man idk what to tell you ✨𓆏✨

Me and My Shadow You ever watch a single Dazzreviews video in 2021 and then get stuck thinking about a cancelled Dreamworks movie for the next 3 years

UT/DR Deltarune is definitely more frequent, that is to say if either of them are frequent, but uhhhh yeah

Wordgirl Aka me drawing Dr. Two-Brains every day forever (Currently my main obsession as of writing this)

Uhhh that's all for now until I decide to add links and stuff 💥

[ikvgai]

rules & terms ๋࣭ ⭑

pt/br - por favor leia todo o conteúdo abaixo antes de enviar o seu pedido.

english - please read the entire content below before submitting your order.

perguntas frequentes!

[pt-br]

aqui estão algumas das perguntas que recebo com frequência. confira a listinha antes de enviar uma dúvida repetida na ask!

1 - o que você utiliza nos seus icons?

r: uso psd e action!

2 - qual o seu nome?

r: meu nome é luiza, tenho 21 anos!

3 - você estuda ou trabalha?

r: eu trabalho.

4 - quais seus fandoms?

r: acompanho vários artistas, porém o único fandom que faço parte é o fearnot, fandom do grupo de k-pop le sserafim.

5 - qual psd e action você usa? pode me passar?

r: desculpe, mas não compartilho os meus materiais.

[en]

here are some of the questions i frequently receive. check the list before sending a repeated question on ask!

1 - what do you use in your icons?

a: i use psd and action!

2 - what is your name?

a: my name is luiza, i’m 21 years.

3 - do you study or work?

a: I work.

4 - what are your fandoms?

a: i like several artists, but the only fandom i'm part of is fearnot, fandom name of the k-pop girlgroup le sserafim.

5 - which psd and action do you use? can you share the link?

a: sorry, but i don't share my resources.

regras, rules

[pt-br]

olá. por favor leia atentamente os nossos termos e regras antes de enviar o seu pedido. em caso de descumprimento, sua ask será deletada.

evite fazer mais de um pedido na mesma ask. para uma melhor organização, sinta-se a vontade para enviar seus pedidos separadamente.

não aceito pedidos sem 'por favor', 'obrigada' ou algo do tipo. sou uma só e isso aqui não é um trabalho remunerado, a única coisa que você pode fazer é ser educado comigo.

especifique o nome do artista e o que você espera do seu pedido. por exemplo, caso queira icons da cantora lana del rey, envie uma ask com o nome dela, O MATERIAL (é um icon? uma header? lockscreens) e também seria legal colocar o tipo de conteúdo, ou seja: fotos de revistas? photoshoot? fotos pessoais? print de entrevistas? isso ecomoniza muito do meu tempo e facilita a elaboração do seu pedido.

ás vezes posso demorar a responder a sua ask, minhas postagens são ocasionais, não tenho compromisso com o blog, é mais um hobbie pra mim. por favor, não me apresse e nem fique perguntando quando postarei o seu pedido. não aceito pedidos através de mensagens e nem de comentários (notas), somente ask.

pedidos aceitos: icons, headers e lockscreens. não aceito pedidos elaborados como: headers e lockscreens de colagem, editadas e efeitadas. não aceito pedidos de icons enfeitados, com png etc.

eu não faço icons, headers de personagens específicos de séries, filmes, animes e etc em pedidos. faço esporadicamente, mas em pedidos não. porque não assisto a maioria deles então é complicado pra mim identificar o personagem nos episódios.

[en]

hello. please read our terms and rules carefully before submitting your order. in case of non-compliance, your ask will be deleted.

avoid making more than one request in the same ask. for better organization, feel free to send your orders separately.

i don't accept requests without 'please', 'thank you' or something like that. i'm just one and this isn't a paid job, the only thing you can do is be polite to me.

specify the artist's name and what you expect from your order. for example, if you want icons of lana del rey, send an ask with her name, THE MATERIAL (is it an icon? a header? lockscreens) and it would also be nice to include the type of content, that is: photos from magazines? photoshoot? personal pictures? printouts of interviews? this saves a lot of my time and makes it easier to prepare your order.

requests accepted: icons, headers and lockscreens. i do not accept elaborate requests such as: collage headers and lockscreens, icons with effects and edits. i do not accept requests for decorated icons, with png, etc.

sometimes it may take me a while to respond to your ask, my posts are occasional, i have no commitment to the blog, it's more of a hobby for me. please don't rush me or ask when i will post your order. i do not accept requests through messages or comments (notes), only ask.

[trainsinanime]

Okay, I apologize, but I don't understand all these complaints about Ladynoir and Adrienette. The problem here is not whether people like Adrienette or not, but that everyone portrays Adrien purely as an accessory to Ladynoir. Maybe I'm surprising someone with this, but Adrienette is no less important than Ladynoir; it's just that their interactions are more frequent due to the "Monster of the Week" formula, while Adrien's appearances on the screen are limited to show how Gabriel isolates him. And now all of this is starting to be resolved.

To be honest, I have many questions about your reasoning. You mentioned complex feelings between them, but the problem is that there are none. Chat Noir simply decided to move on (we saw how he started distancing himself from his feelings after the illusion in "Jubilation," and in "Elation," he even explained why). His pushed behavior towards Ladybug has always been portrayed as a character flaw, considering that it sometimes led to negative consequences, which was character development. Ladybug also decided to move on as a result of everything that happened in "Elation." Therefore, there can't be any romantic complications between them at the moment.

I also don't see the show ever stating that they cannot be together because they don't know each other's secret identities. It's more about the fact that they cannot be together because Gabriel is trying to prevent it. Let's not forget that there are other couples with secret identities in the show as well.

In any case, I believe that going the Adrienette route is the right path. Going the Ladynoir route would be a step back due to a series of circumstances depicted in canon, which puts both characters' development in a corner at this stage (I could elaborate, but it would turn into a whole article). It's also not a bad thing that, despite everything happening in the second arc of the story, Ladynoir won't be together until the reveal. After all, they are still the same people. The way the Love Square is treated in the fandom, as if LS is just "Ladynoir and friends," can be quite tiresome. The hints that it will start with Adrienette were there from Season 1. It's as if people couldn't imagine that progress in romantic relationships would happen outside of Ladynoir, and now they're genuinely surprised by the outcome.

I apologize if my response seemed rude. I didn't intend to be rude. I primarily wrote that because I was surprised that you expected the collapse of Adrienette within three episodes. I understand that everyone was expecting the reveal, but it's based on the assumption that their romantic progress had to happen as Ladynoir.

Hi, thanks for the response, and don't worry, I don't think it's rude at all. That said, I disagree with parts of it.

I think you misunderstand a key part of what I was trying to say (I probably could have worded it better). I don't think either Adrinette or Ladynoir are better. I don't think "romantic progress has to happen as Ladynoir". My point is that before season 5 (even before Kwami's Choice), I thought romantic progress would involve both sides somehow. Because that is how the show has worked so far.

You're saying that post-elation, there are no complex feelings between Ladynoir. That is exactly my problem: There should be complex feelings between them! But then there just aren't any. It's very anticlimactic that both of them just go, "oh well", and move on. Frankly, between you and me, I think it's boring.

But perhaps more importantly, I think it's weird. Their feelings have grown and changed and deepened so much over the school year that lasted eight years, and that's it? They can just move on like that? It's not causing them any sleepless nights where they're wondering about their feelings? That is very surprising to me.

Aside: Chat Noir moving on from Ladybug is not good character development. For one, his crush on her was never actually a problem in itself, just the way he went about expressing it, and even that only rarely. Even if it were a problem, "moving on" isn't actually character growth. Adrien doesn't learn anything new or change his behaviour now that he's in love with Marinette, she just reciprocates his feelings. He's still the same guy as before.

Anyway, back on topic: The Love Square never used to be "Adrinette plus some other stuff", and it didn't use to be "Ladynoir plus some other stuff". It was a finely tuned balance, where the things happening as Ladynoir mattered as much as the things happening as Adrinette, but nothing was ever just a simple mirror. Adrinette grow closer, Ladynoir grow closer. Ladynoir fight and reunite, Adrinette have their own issues to solve. And most importantly, Adrinette was impossible because Ladynoir was standing in the way, and Ladynoir was impossible because Adrinette was standing in the way.

(By the way, the show actually did specifically say that they can't be together because of secret identities. Ladybug specifically told Chat Noir she can't be with him because there's someone else, in Glaciator. Adrien told Plagg and Marinette that he can't be in love with Marinette because he's in love with Ladybug, in Weredad. I'm not sure why you blame Gabriel.)

Season 5 threw that whole thing completely off balance, by literally just deleting Ladynoir for two episodes. If they had done the same thing the other way, e.g. if they had a two-parter instead where Adrien and Marinette decide they have to be in costume at all times and then started dating as Ladynoir, and then just forget about Adrinette, that would have had the exact same problems.