#Canon Immigrant (trope)

[inspectorspacetimerevisited]

It was very surprising to see Andy Serkis’s face amongst the Inspector’s past incarnations during Scoundrel’s deep scan of the Inspector,

since he’d only appeared as the Inspector in the 1998 parody ‘Inspector Spacetime and the Boon of Eternal Life’.

[cassandrva]

the spiderverse movies, especially across the spiderverse, are perfect stories to analyze through a metafictional lens (for context: metafiction is when a story deliberately draws the audience's attention to its status as a story)

it's almost inevitable for a spider-man story set in a multiverse to build commentary on what it means to be a spider-man story. itsv certainly does it, but atsv doubles down on it tenfold.

throughout all of the film we see characters imposing a narrative on miles, telling him not only what to do but also how to present and even think about himself and his place in the world. they want him to distort his story, make it palatable, to conform to the beats and tropes everyone expects from him both as miles morales and as spider-man.

his guidance counselor wants him to be poster boy for the stereotypical american dream "poor child of immigrants pulls himself up by his bootstraps to become a great scientist" narrative

miguel insists on subjecting every single spider-person to the same traumatic tropes— sorry, "canon events" that (according to his algorithm) define the very nature of a spider-man story. he's like the comics authority of this spider-verse. any divergence miles attempts from the standardized narratives that are thrust upon him is heavily policed and disciplined

both the counselor and miguel are essentially saying the same thing: being who miles is is about sacrifice, and it's about suffering. to prevent that suffering or to acknowledge its absence means erasing his identity respectively as an afrolatino young man and as a superhero

and he is having none of it. this is not a spider-man narrative, this is his spider-man narrative. he's not going to reduce himself to fit into a nice cookie cutter generic marketable version of his own life

and in his literal main character moment he graduates from guy who is doomed by the narrative to Guy Who Dooms The Narrative. he's taken control of his own story. bet in the next movie he's gonna make the whole canon theory unravel. bet he's gonna break canon so hard it explodes.

[aliusfrater]

i've said it before and i'll say it again: personally i don't think sam is '''womancoded''' specifically but i do think that based on supernatural's genre and it's tropes, sam's character is set within the archetype of the narrative's nucleus Other in both the most 2005 and gothic horror/supernatural resurgence/metahorror way possible and as the show's allegorical patriarchal structure shifted and developed, the non-role that he eventually and, more often than not, falls into when it comes to episodic tropes are ones that can be seen as normatively feminine—damsel in distress, prudishness, beta bitch (to dean in context), bratty-ness (2.15), hysterical, and he becomes jack's Mother in terms of the roles he and dean eventually occupy when it comes to considering jack as their son.

and while it is valid and true to think that this idea—in regards to any kind of gender-related concept in regards to a canonically cisgender male character in supernatural—exists because of the existing misogynist tendencies within both fandom and the way the show itself handles its female characters, and that by thinking about a male character in this way, it's an excuse for not caring about these female characters but sam is also explicitly and purposefully written this way, both in terms of his original character archetypes and certain tropes that he's written into (singer has discussed sam's role as jack's mother); both ideas can and do exist.

anyway the point is that supernatural is just so heteronormative that it could not create a space outside of an idea of the show's own standard of masculinity within which sam could reside. and even then the Othering and liminality of sam's character, which originally exist in reference to his monstrosity, both set the foundation for and perpetuate this aspect of his patriarchal position. and honestly, he isn't the only character that this is explored in; a lot of cis-male demons are portrayed as being queer or doing emasculating things because of their monstrosity. sam's Othering can exist as an allegory for a lot of things—queerness, immigration, neurodivergency, etc.—but based on just how evident masculinity is in supernatural, feminine gender explorations are low-hanging fruit.

[fordtato]

So, I’ve been watching some of your Gravity Falls videos—-and by the way, they’re absolutely fantastic, and I love that you included complex and under-discussed topics through the lenses of aspecs and of masculinity—though one of the things that’s been most surprising that you’ve mentioned in passing a few times is the idea that Stan and Ford were specifically Jewish immigrants.

I’m curious if you could tell me more about that, especially because that possibility doesn’t sit well with me as a Jew, as if it’s true it would make Stan’s entire character an antisemitic stereotype (the greedy, deceptive Jew is one of the oldest antisemitic stereotypes out there) and would make the entire show harder to enjoy or even watch.

Sure, no problem (and thank you for watching my videos)! So, the Pines family is canonically Jewish (the series creator, Alex Hirsch, is himself Jewish and based them off his own family and has confirmed this, and we see a mezuzah at Stan and Ford’s childhood home). As far as them being immigrants, I don’t say that Stan and Ford themselves are immigrants, but that they are the children of immigrants, as it is implied in the supplemental material that their father (or at least their father’s family) migrated to the US, with a mention of a name-change on Ellis Island. 

As far as the antisemitic stereotypes, that is an area that I feel less comfortable weighing in on (as I myself am not Jewish). It is notable that the characters were written/created by a Jewish man, and I feel it would be inappropriate for me to weigh in too deeply on how a Jewish person writes Jewish characters (and Stan, notably, is also based off of one of Hirsch’s relatives.) In all discussions of good or bad representation (regardless of which marginalized group I’m considering), I think a solid rule of thumb when considering a stereotypical depiction, is that it is important to see if that is the only depiction of that group present, or if there is diversity within the diversity, so to speak. The entire Pines family, including Dipper, Mabel and Ford, are all Jewish, and they have a wide breadth of traits and loveable qualities and flaws. If all of these characters had harmful stereotypes associated with their traits, or if the only depiction of a character from a given group is a stereotype, that is what usually sets off red flags for me. This does NOT mean that stereotypical depictions are immune to criticism, because they absolutely are not, but I do think criticism can be murky on a case-to-case basis, especially when those traits are written by a writer of that background. 

That being said, I have seen it said by other Jewish fandom members that Stan Pines can be seen as a deconstruction of the stereotypical tropes you mention and I’ve always found that very interesting. What at first appears to be greed/money-obsession can actually be seen as a manifestation of his means of survival (leftover from when he was homeless as a teen), the trauma of being told as a young person that he would not be accepted without money, and also that he was working to pay off his brother’s mortgage while working to save him from the portal.

I hope this was helpful and that my answer here made sense. 

[canonmisogynyvictimstournament]

PROPAGANDA

ALEX DEWITT (DC COMICS)

1.) The term “fridging” is literally based on Alex and what happened to her. She was killed off violently by a bad guy trying to get at her boyfriend only a couple issues after she was introduced (making it obvious they only brought her in to kill her off for shock value). Her death did very little to the narrative other than hurt her boyfriend Kyle and was done in an exceedingly horrifying and violent way. (Bad guy came to the door with flowers and threatening note, broke in and attacked her, choking her to death, before [off panel] chopping her body up and sticking it in the refrigerator as a “surprise” for her boyfriend. This obviously is really fucked up and she deserves better and should win this actually (a vote for Alex is a vote for all fridging victims [in spirit])

2.) It doesn’t get much worse than being the character whose death originated the “fridging” trope. In Green Lantern Vol. 3 #54, Kyle Rayner comes home to find that Alexandra, his girlfriend, has been killed by the villain Major Force and stuffed into the refrigerator.

Alexandra DeWitt is the character whose misogynistic treatment coined the term where a character, usually female, is killed off purely to make the main character, usually male, feel bad. Even if there are other characters who have been subjected to similar levels of misogyny, Alexandra DeWitt’s treatment has been essentially immortalized.

3.) I know she’s not going to win but shout out to my home girl, literally the trope namer for women shoved in fridges. All anyone ever knows about her is that she was Kyle’s girlfriend and got murdered for his character development, even though she had plenty of potential to be her own character.

MARINETTE DUPAIN-CHENG (MIRACULOUS LADYBUG) (CW: Racism)

1.) First, her creator has it as a hard Canon rule that every single episode she has to be wrong about something, even if it doesn’t make sense for her to be. She got to be with a boy who liked who she was and not the fact that she was a hero, who is much better suited for her as a partner than the one she is constantly shoved with. Her superhero partner constantly pushes past her romantic boundaries and is actively encouraged by everyone else in canon around him, even when she states multiple times that she doesn’t want to date him and they are not a couple. He’s always trying to take away from the fight, and several times when he is turned down he will take it out on her. The creator of the show describes him as flawless. Her suits are awful, they’re literally just decorative spandex on her body, giving her no structure or support.

2.) victim of both the crew’s misogyny and racism the show literally cannot be normal about her i submitted her to the character massacre poll so im gonna repeat some of the stuff i said from there shes a 14 year old girl n a rule of the show’s bible is that marinette must always be the one to learn a lesson so shes always wrong according to the narrative even when she actually isnt in the wrong one of her main character traits is that she has a crush on adrien and cause shes a teenage girl shes of course portrayed as obsessive and stalkerish for… having pictures of her fashion model crush in her room n knowing his schedule even though hes super busy n it would be reasonable for her to keep track of his schedule so she n his other friends could actually hang out with him despite being half chinese and (from what i remember) her mom being a first generation immigrant she has no actual connection to it for all intents and purposes her being half chinese is almost irrelevant for her character unless the show feels like being weird about it such as having her white crush be more knowledgeable about chinese culture than her n her parents being based off of the creator and an ex girlfriend of his (his tweet about that is still up btw) which leads into the next thing of marinette is weirdly sexualized by the show she has the most blatantly body paint suit of the girls (cause all of them have body suits seriously pretty much all of the women n girls in this show could be submitted which is bad considering its a girl power show for kids) the camera frequently frames itself on the lower half of her body in one of the comics after she detransforms shes left naked (an issue entirely invented for this comic) and has to wear a box as clothes n there was a scandal about a member of the crew drawing her naked which the show’s creator defended (remember this guy said marinette was like his virtual child) shes not winning in her love life either so both marinette and adrien are superheroes with secrect identities n neither of them know who the other person is under the mask marinette likes adrien who is chat noir’s civilian identity and adrien likes ladybug who is marinette’s superhero identity hes not into marinette n marinette’s not into chat noir however chat noir constantly flirts with ladybug (usually instead of actually helping her) ignores her rejections of his romantic advances n throws a hissy fit whenever she doesnt priortize him (such as not helping her defeat the baddie thats frozen all of paris cause last night she didnt show up for a date he set up when she told him she couldnt go on a date cause she already had plans with friends threatening to quit when most of paris was underwater due to a different villain cause marinette got trusted with an important secret n he didnt and attempting to use cataclysm (his ability to destory anything) on marinette’s best friend when marinette had her use the ladybug miraculous in her stead) while her own pursuit of adrien only ever ends in her own humiliation cause the crew just thinks its so funny for a teenage girl to get repeatedly humiliated for the crime of wanting to ask her crush out n then yank her back when she tries to move on with a guy who openly has a crush on her respects her n is very supportive of her which is something they literally wrote her to do n pressured by pretty much everyone to ask out adrien (as a civilian) n date chat noir (as a hero) cause the show doesnt know how to properly develop a romance for their main couple beyond having everyone say theyre meant to be and then also this is more of like the show’s general misogyny and double standards but when girls crush on the same guy theyre all catty bitches to eachother (n then also two of them are irredeemably evil cause the show hates teenage girls n thinks the show’s main villain (who only isnt a child abuser if you dont considering neglect n emotional abuse real abuse) is more redeemable than two cartoony mean teen girls) while guys crushing on the same girl are chill n buddies with eachother

3.) We’ve seen time and time again she’s capable and smart and creative and can really do anything she puts her mind to-but canon forces her to fall for a guy after he halfass apologizes (never actually says sorry and lies about never having friends when in the same episode he keeps saying he’s this persons friend) about a misunderstanding because ooh white boy go hard I guess and thus for multiple seasons have her go stupid around and simply because of this boy. This same boy but now hero form she’s doesn’t know, gets to trying and flirt with her over and over even after she tells him very nicely that she doesn’t like him like that, thought they were just bantering, and that she likes someone else. The narrative punishes her when she does anything that the boy doesn’t like, either by him not helping her as a hero in fights or scolding her in both forms. Additionally, her character is through the ringer when ever it comes to him because “she’s boy crazy” like teaming up with her bully to ruin this girls dress because she is attending an event with him- which goes way off base for her character- and this happens only whenever he’s involved. They have her be weird around him like sniffed his pillow once and took a hair from what she thought was a statue of him and also have her never function normally around him-which fine that can be true to life cause she’s 13-but when she falls for this other boy who makes her relaxed and helps her to be who she is happily-the narrative pulls a 180 once they date showing she can’t forget about the first boy and putting her pictures she took of the first boy back in her room when they were previously removed. Last thing because I think this is getting way too long sorry, but they sexualize the hell out of the female hero: from their poses and shots focusing on their chest, butts, or movements of them, but also the male heros costumes are way more intricate and detailed where as the main character for three plus seasons only had a red bodysuit with black neck and black spots while the male hero had a black suit detailed with a golden bell, leather belt as a tail, black ears, green cat eyes, and more. I just can’t with this show doing girls dirty and then claiming “girl power”

[apopcornkernel]

11, 19, 23, 39 !! sending u kisses back MWAH !!!

from these writing asks

11. Three tropes that are fine but overrated.

e,, ene,,, enemies-to-lovers (audience gasps) YES i know i cannot believe I'm saying this as one of the most ardent lovers of etl. but likeee i don't think it suits some ships at all (and kinda kills what i love about said ships) AND I've been feeling super let down by recent portrayals of it that has actually just been straight ass

other than that, i guess fake dating and arranged marriage 😭 i do still enjoy those tropes done well! but lately I've been wanting more canon-based fics & quieter tension but tension all the same. like yes give me 20k of them running this country together, i don't even want a confession at the end or any sort of kiss, just show me their chemistry and their deep trust!!!!

19. Share a snippet from a wip without giving any context for it.

I LOVE U FOR THIS

When she woke, her head was clearer, the haze of drink all but burned through. It was not yet light. Yukong turned, and in the darkness Caiyi’s eyes were like that of a cat’s, fixed pinpricks of direct brightness.

No. Not Caiyi.

Ruan Mei blinked back at her, still watching. The memory of everything that had transpired, the touching, the kissing—

Yukong uttered a low, fierce curse.

23. Dialogue or description? Why is the other one so hard?

it depends, but usually its dialogue :( i am really bad at writing very very colloquial characters and when it's for more formal (?) characters its slightly easier if only bc i know the rules better? but its still hard, like... like this for example, I'm still unsure how to rephrase this 😭:

The Seer Strategist had on a look of such put-on innocence that it only missed an affronted hand to the chest. “Why, Diviner Fu, I’d never. ☰ ☲ Besides, it’s not good for us to have infighting among ourselves rephrase.”

yeah, that rephrase is my note to self 😭 it's why writing stuff like jingfu takes doubly long.

description can also be hard for me bc i forget that people need them haha. like i just want to skip ahead and go to the good stuff (interaction! talking!) but then im like. shit. the readers don't even know where they are rn 😭 it's a little tiring to describe too, like idk how yall are writing multiple paragraphs when one alone is a struggle for me

39. Wildest AU scenario you have written?

it's STILL jingfu propaganda movement au where i made jing yuan a chinese mestizo and fu xuan a newly arrived chinese immigrant who lived in binondo during the philippine propaganda movement and the ensuing revolution 🥰

[twosides--samecoin]

Hi!! Happy weekend! I’d love to hear about some of your ocs headcanons 🍬🌻💩 :]

Here's Jack and Olivia, 2/3 of Long Time Running's main cast - with a bonus heacanon unique to my Dogmeat! You can read the fic -> here <-

Jack Ward is my canon M!SoSu. He was a professional boxer and retired when he was conscripted for the Anchorage campaign and sent to FoB Juneau.

When Med-Tek failed, Jack pushed RJ on a vertibird destined for Vault 150 - a remote Canadian Vault that tested Duncan's illness on its residents. Two weeks later, Olivia Dallaire, my OC F!SoSu, stepped out of a vertibird and onto the hill overlooking Sanctuary and Boston. She'd be an Olympic judoka if there was still Olympics.

🍬On the topic of family: One of the themes in my fic is about the intersection and contrast between found family and adoption as well as miscommunication. Jack sees a younger version of himself in Olivia, but in a subversion of the failed-coach-training-his-actually-promising-protege trope, Jack had the title fight successes and Olivia really never will. All the same, he takes a shine to her. After meeting Father at the Institute, Jack let go of the idea of recovering his family. When he met Olivia, he felt like, "My god, this is the child Nora and I were supposed to have". Problem is, she's uh, a grown-ass 23 year-old woman. Who just immigrated to a different country and has her own trauma to unpack. And the sudden reemergence of his want to be a dad is moving faster than his ability to discuss being family with her. He faces serious role strain between his best friendship with RJ and the fatherhood he feels toward Olivia when he sees RJ differently as he begins to feel protective over her.

💩 Something ridiculous: My Dogmeat can break the fourth wall. The characters cannot hear him in the fic, but the reader can read his thoughts. One of my childhood fave movies is All Dogs Go To Heaven. The main dog is a German Shepherd, voiced by Burt Reynolds. This is how I hear him.

I was born in '94, so those 80's-90's "talking animal" genre movies were really formative for me. Anastasia, An American Tail - themes of lost family, adventure, immigration. Even RJ's story has strong Secrets of NIMH parallels. I'd reached a point where my fic felt self-serious, like it was so grounded in harsh reality and dumpster fire mental health that I forgot to have fun. Saluting Don Bluth by imagining Charlie B. Barkin and Anne-Marie the Orphan as Dogmeat and Olivia was me throwing my hands up and saying, "Fine! Fuck it! We can have fun!"

🌼 Happiness, how'd you get to be happiness: Lately, getting to know each other has been a source of happiness for both Jack and Olivia. Jack as the canon SoSu has all the problems we do when we play the game - wrangling several warring factions that all expect his presence; ignoring Father/the Institute; managing a small empire of settlements. Olivia as the SoSu of her own Vault is navigating immigration and being around people again. The heart-meltingest fluff I have published so far is father-daughter moments. Excerpt below the cut!

Long Time Running Chapter 13: Sabré Olvidar:

Jack glanced at Olivia’s marigold cable-knit sweater and jeans, rolled up at the cuffs. He realized most of her clothing from home that wasn’t her Vault suit was oversized and patched several times over. 

A deep flush of sadness erupted within. He coughed and returned to the topic of conversation. “Well, um.. What.. What do you think of the animals you let go?” 

“I just thank them for giving me a pretty view. I mean, just look at them.” She let go of their hug and stepped back. “If you look at it like this, the window makes them look like a painting.” 

She beamed at the radstag pair - four heads and too many legs. 

Jack obliged the request and stepped back. The window framed the radstags, trees and tall grasses well, like a living photograph. He appreciated the scene with the same intensity as a painting in a museum.  

He broke his gaze away and looked around at the cabin. “Well.. What brings us down here today, anyway?” he asked.

“I was thinking,” she turned away from the radstags. “Um, there wasn’t anyone here last time I visited, and there’s no one here now, and.. Y’know, it’s pretty close to town.. Does anyone own this place?” 

“Truth be told, Miss Olivia,” he replied. “I don’t think anyone’s taken interest in this cabin since the bombs fell. Doesn’t seem to me like anyone owns it.” 

She wrung her hands and shifted her weight as she looked around. “Um.. can I..” 

Jack awaited the question with patience and a smile. “Yes?”

“Can I have it? Please?” she pleaded.

His heart melted anew. Oh, Jesus, not that face, not that face. He decided to mess with her and put on an apprehensive tone. “I dunno.. It’s a big responsibility, being a homeowner..”

She hung on his every word with wide-eyed worry. 

“The cost for materials, the labor.. In this economy, too.. Ouch.” He grimaced, both to ham up the theatrics and to force his mouth away from a smile.

“I-I’ll work, I’ll get a job, I promise-” 

He could no longer keep up the act. “Oh, fine, sure. It’s yours!” 

Olivia gasped and threw her arms around Jack’s torso. Coffee spilled out of her mug with a graceful dive and landed on the floor with an audible splash.

“Thank you thank you thank you thank you- Oh, I have so much work to do-” she let go of Jack and listed the repairs. “I need a door and I have to clean the fireplace and I need to find new windows and-” 

Jack beamed as she bounced around the room. Her braid whipped through the air as she tallied up her needs. Getting to know his little bundle of contradictions was fun. 

“-nails and lumber and.. And that spot on the porch that’s sagging.. I have a lot to do if I want this ready for winter.” 

“Alright, then, that settles it,” he said. “Let’s get a move on.” 

“Where to?” she asked.

“Well, like you said, winter’s on the way. Let’s get building.” 

She smiled, somehow wider than her smile already was. “Yeah! Let’s do it!”

She ran out the door and jumped off the stairs instead of walking down. “Where can we go shopping for supplies?” she asked, turning back to him.

Jack followed and took the steps as normal. “We’ll see what we have in Sanctuary before we look elsewhere. I’ll have to get you a workbench down here.” 

Olivia hopped and skipped ahead. “My own workbench, I-” 

She wasn’t watching her step and nearly tripped. 

«Tabarnak!» she swore. Olivia threw her hands up in mock-offense. “Who put this root here, eh?” 

She laughed off the transgression, tucked the stem of the hubflower behind her ear and turned her pirate smile toward Sanctuary.

Jack Ward, ol’ 111 himself, was thoroughly charmed. Miss Olivia Dallaire contained multitudes. 

Sweet, funny, capable, sensitive. A reader, a fighter, an animal-lover and an occasional jokester who stopped to smell the roses.  

He remembered the leadup to Arturo’s last title fight, when he lived at the house with Jack and Nora. 

One night in the later stages of her pregnancy, Nora laid on the couch as Arturo and Jack sat on the floor surrounded by the pieces of a yet-to-be constructed crib.

Arturo lectured their unborn child on the syntax, phonetics and style guide of French Canadian cursing.

«Esti de câlice de tabarnak!» Arturo exclaimed. "That is what we say when the baby crib is hard to build! You better like it!"

Jack wiped a tear from his cheek as he followed Olivia to Sanctuary.

Arturo would have been so proud to be your uncle. So proud.

[teatitty]

Question: What are your thoughts on the KakaIru fandom making Mizuki an asshole to everyone around him? It’s been a while since I watched the anime, so I don’t remember if that gave any more insight.

You're in luck because I've already talked about my Mizuki thoughts here and here ! I completely utterly ignore the anime backstory given to him for the reasons in those posts and I think it's very [eye rolls] of the fandom to only use that interpretation of him when it's anime only canon and we, as fans, have far more freedom to do what we like with him. Also it's just very very boring to have him reduced to a basic flat trope that is more often than not used to uplift KakaIru when you can do a lot more interesting things with him and really dig deep into complicated friend feelings

For me I have a very elaborate headcanon about him and Iruka being the children of first gen Kirigakure immigrants [goes along with my HC that all people from Kiri have sharkteeth but I'm not about to talk in depth about my Mist land thoughts and lore] and the struggles they faced therein, especially being raised during a time of war between those nations, that they became friends because they could understand the other's struggles as fellow outsiders, and Iruka did have the same anger and resentment towards Naruto as Mizuki the difference is that he chose to go out of his way to overcome it whereas Mizuki simply. Couldn't/wouldn't/didn't! They're a really cool parallel and getting rid of that to do a basic "oh Mizuki was a bad friend/abusive ex and Iruka couldn't see it" is just... it's bland. It's boring. There's nothing interesting in there for me and I don't like it, because it sands down Iruka's edges and makes Mizuki far less interesting a betrayal

Soooo yeah! Those are some of my Mizuki thoughts and feelings

[fixing-bad-posts]

I haven't watched rop myself but I would absolutely like to hear your thoughts. Like, this is your cue to vent (if you wanna) :)

okay so i just got three asks about rings of power when i didn’t expect anyone to actually message me about this at all!!! as such, i’ll be giving my opinion in three parts with this being, part one: rings of power as a bad adaptation.

basically, the failure of rings of power is two-pronged: 1) it’s a bad adaptation, and 2) it’s a poor piece of writing. charitably, it’s a solid first-try for a pair of newbie showrunners who have never written a big project before. and following that, a bad adaptation is actually easier to forgive than a poorly written story—with a text so beloved, and without the proper rights to all the material (they only had access to the appendices of lotr), it was always going to be impossible to make a perfect text-to-screen translation. that said, it’s (imo) a pretty bad adaptation (although still not as bad as the artemis fowl movie lmao) for a few reasons: thematic interpretation, use of characters/characterization, justification of setting, and fidelity to canon lore.

on: themes—a good adaptation requires both an understanding and an appreciation of the source material, two things which rings of power lacks. in this promo article, the rop writers summarize tolkien’s works as about “friendship,” “brotherhood,” and, “underdogs overcoming great darkness,” and cannot imagine a tolkien story without hobbits. from this, it’s clear that they were first peter jackson movie fans, and then read all other book material as auxiliary support for what is inevitably peter jackson’s interpretation of tolkien’s writings on the third age. whether or not i agree with pj’s interpretation is irrelevant against the fact that the first and second ages of middle earth are stories with completely different themes than the third age. interpreting everything though the same thematic lens as the third age is a fundamentally flawed approach to telling a second age story.

the second age is permeated by arguably recent, memorable trauma from the war of wrath—the human characters are further removed via the mortal generations that have passed, but many of the elves were alive to see these events in (relatively) recent memory. this dissonance between elves and men regarding the events of the first age fuels some of the most interesting wider conflict throughout the second age (ex. the númenóreans being manipulated to become obsessed with/envious of elven immortality & the powers of the valar). furthermore, the world impact (i can’t say global impact because the world is not yet a globe) of the war of wrath fuels the setting (political reformation, social, cultural, and technical development). but rings of power ignores all of this because the showrunners don’t seem know what to do with any of it. they are trying to interpret second age events as if they have the same story elements/are painted in the same thematic palette as the events of the war of the ring. they relegate the events of the first age to ‘ancient history,’ instead of using its fallout as direct motivation for anyone except galadriel (more on this in the following section). the tension between elves and men is flattened into an allegory for contemporary immigration, which neither makes sense in-universe (there is a scene in which a group of men gather in the town square to protest the elves ‘stealing their jobs’ even though there is only one (1) elf on the island and she has not to date done any labor or craft associated with the people present), nor adapts the canon themes of anti-industrialization, anti-materialism, and fear of mortality.

on: character—whether the writers were/are incapable of doing their own analysis of the text, or their analysis is flawed, the result is that they struggle to write characters and conflicts who don’t fit into stock tropes. for example: galadriel—she’s the only elf who has any trauma about the war of wrath/the wars in beleriand, and this makes her seem like a poor communicator at best and paranoid/unreasonable at worst (she claims sauron is still at large but the writers never give the audience a reason to believe this, which implies that her crusade is fueled by dubiously exceptional trauma). this is especially egregious in a scene played opposite elrond where she tells him he can’t possibly understand her pain, and he just kind of lets this accusation stand despite the fact that he was functionally orphaned in a slaughter, and then adopted by two mass murderers before losing them too. but i digress.

on: canon lore—many creative decisions were ostensibly made to appeal to casual fans of the peter jackson movies. characters with recognizable names are given top billing in the storylines. galadriel. elrond. the pre-hobbits are given an entire section. meanwhile, key players of the second age like celebrimbor and gil-galad are made side characters in elrond plotline. why? because no one who has only seen the films recognizes their names, thus they wouldn’t be profitable to feature, and they wouldn’t sell a show. it’s only so transparent because the writers spend every episode contemplating how best to recreate memorable moments from the lord of the rings movies. galadriel is constantly shot with close ups on her eyes to mirror her film introduction in fellowship. shots of bronwyn (one of the rop original characters) at the elven outpost are framed, blocked, and even written in word-for-word monologue to recreate iconic éowyn-at-helms-deep scenes. various characters are constantly quoting the lord of the rings movies. the worst is when bronwyn practically quotes a section of sam’s iconic osgiliath speech to her frightened son, implying that sam’s speech is a collection of common idioms.

on a tangible level, the writers also fail at the monumental task of presenting a large map in a way that makes sense to people who don’t already know the world. they represent “the southlands,” as two villages, giving the sense that mordor as a whole is about fifteen kilometers wide. the timeline is fucked because they tried to condense it, while giving no clear indication of when anything is happening in relation to anything else, so it’s incredibly difficult to grasp the scope of any project or journey. for some reason they invented a fourth silmaril of dubious origin. they had elrond, raised by sons of fëanor, swear an oath only to break it in the following episode. they’ve made the choice to have all the elves speak quenya without acknowledging the history of sindarin vs. quenya and the politics of why certain elves speak it or don’t (i would love to see even one nod to thingol’s influence on elven language).

tl;dr—rings of power misreads, misunderstands, and miscommunicates the crucial themes of the second age. this leads to a complete misinterpretation of the pre-known movie characters they feature, as well as a sidelining of important book characters who aren’t movie-fan favourites. their attempt to properly explore a vast setting is clumsy, and the show invents lore out of a source material that already has arguably too much. 

(i have to go run some errands but i have more to say on rop as a poor piece of writing regardless of its status as a so-called adaptation. i’ll be back.)

[lea-khena]

for the ask game, 7 and 8 for javier :0

Ty for the questions!! Asks for my favorite blorbo deserve a little gif huehue

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

Interpreting fandoms can be a bit hard sometimes because reactions vary depending where you're at? I feel like that's particularly the case for javier too, depending on which platform you look at or which part of the fandom youre from, if youre a casual javier lover or not, if youre from the oc x javier shippers or canon x javier shippers or no shipper club... So I'll try to do my best to give my thoughts about it but it wont be too easy.

I feel like in general the fandom here on tumblr at least seems to realise that hes more than just a villain (thats a whole other story on other platforms though like youtube or tiktok), they know he's suffered a lot of loss and traumas and take that into account for his actions. There's a few fans, mostly in the jovier nation, that really explore his character in depth, which is one of the main reasons why i enjoy the ship. That part of the fandom dont always make him all suave and seductive, they also make him awkward and human. I like the part of the fandom that gives him nuance but obviously thats not what i see everywhere.

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

Once again, depends where you look at in the fandom but its pretty much the opposite of what ive stated earlier. When people put him as simply a villain and nothing more and talk about his "betrayal" to John and Arthur without understanding his motives behind, that's smt ive seen plenty of time on youtube but not so much on tumblr. Never fails to make me mad when i see these takes. I've also seen a lot of javier x oc where they write him kinda ooc, like i said all suave and seductive when hes more than just a mexican stereotype.

The one thing though that bothers me more is smt i wish was talked about more often about his character : the importance of his experience and past trauma as an immigrant coming from a country of violence poverty and corruption, and the importance of his love for his country and his past as a revolutionary. The fandom talks plenty about how javier suffered from losing his family twice, but its more than that, Javier is interesting for more than just that. Ofc its sad and it gives the feels to talk about family tropes and i love it just as much but javier is a man who's blood has been marked by the fires and violence of Mexico. A lot of his behavior can be explained to that, to this crooked root in him. I myself come from a country of war and extreme violence as a second generation immigrant though so that's maybe why for me that's something i particularly latch onto his character but i just wish it was more talked about.

[mthofferings2023]

nostalgicatsea

See nostalgicatsea’s existing works here and here.

Preferred contact methods: Tumblr: nostalgicatsea Twitter: nostalgicatsea Discord: nostalgicatsea

Preferred organizations: - Médecins San Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) - Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES) - Transgender Law Center - Waterkeeper Alliance - World Central Kitchen (See the list of approved organizations here)

Will create works that contain: Tropes/elements: character studies, angst, soulmates, slow burn, mutual or one-sided pining, self-sacrifice, amnesia, time travel, reincarnation, fake relationship, relationship of convenience, hurt/comfort, de-aging, dream world, presumed dead, temporary or permanent death, post-breakup, getting together, getting back together, post-Infinity War to post-Endgame, substance abuse and recovery, grief/mourning, parental/child and mentor/mentee relationships, friendship over the years, Tony’s family issues, dark Steve, pre-serum Steve, Hanahaki, hauntings, betrayal, forgiveness AUs: canon-divergent, mafia/gangster, magic, sports, non-powered, high school or college, supernatural, horror, sci-fi, etc. I love AUs! For writing, I tend to focus on one specific moment or a series of small moments, feelings, and relationships more than action-packed plots.

Will not create works that contain: I’m up for most things except some extreme kinks, incest, adult/minor romantic relationships, and infidelity or partner abuse in a ship (unless you're referencing a canon plot point). I'm fine with infidelity and abuse involving a villain as long as it's not OOC. I don’t have any triggers. If you want me to elaborate on my do-not-wants or have a trope, kink, or plot point that you’re not sure I’ll be okay with, please contact me beforehand. Betaing: A/B/O, D/S, OOC, PWPs, OCs, self-inserts, pure fluff without plot, Darcy-centric fics, Hydra character-centric fics, unbalanced CW plots. I’m not that fond of coffeeshop AUs, but I can help with them Writing: A/B/O, D/S, poly, comedy, complicated plots, crack, 100% pure fluff/domestic plots, kidfic (unless it’s canon), AUs that require a lot of specific knowledge (e.g., historical AUs or military AUs), reality TV AU, zombie AU, animal transformation, unbalanced CW plots, Hydra Steve

  -- Fic or Other Writing --

Auction ID: 1145

Will create works for the following relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark - AvAc, MCU, Noir Bruce Banner & Clint Barton & Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov & Tony Stark & Thor - MCU Miles Morales & Miles Morales - Earth-42, Spider-Verse (animated films)

Work Description: This fic will probably be 1.5–3k. It’s possible that it may end up longer as has been the case before, but I can’t make any promises. It might take me a while to finish it as I’m slow at writing and RL keeps me busy, so please keep that in mind when bidding. I’m very interested in writing canon-compliant fics or fics set in canon, especially ones that act like snapshots of the characters at a specific time in their lives or a character/relationship study. I do love AUs as well, but I’ll only write AUs for Steve/Tony for this auction. I would appreciate it if you gave me several prompts, both general and specific, to choose from as that will increase the likelihood of the story being finished faster and lessen the likelihood of me getting writer’s block. If you have any questions about what I will and won’t write, don’t hesitate to reach out to me! I’d also like it if you reached out to me before bidding if you’re thinking of forming a pod bid.

Ratings: Gen, Teen

Can pods bid on this auction? Yes - Podbids welcome!

CLICK HERE TO BID ON THIS WORK

-- Beta Service --

Auction ID: 2072

Will create works for the following relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark - Any Universe Bucky Barnes/Sam Wilson - MCU Iron Man fandom any gen - 616, AvAc, MCU Captain America fandom any gen - 616, AvAc, MCU Avengers fandom any gen - 616, AvAc, EMH, MCU Shang-Chi fandom any gen - MCU Black Panther fandom any gen - MCU Black Widow fandom any gen - MCU Ms. Marvel fandom any gen - 616, MCU Spider-Man fandom any gen - Earth-42, Spider-Verse (animated films)

Work Description: I can help with SPaG/copyediting, flow/structure, continuity, and America-picking, and I particularly love discussing characterization, world building, plot, and character development. I love character and relationship studies and contemplative pieces that dive deeply into who the characters are and how they feel, but I also like plots that tackle serious issues or big canon points, complex plots, and plots with multiple layers/levels. I'm also up for cheer reading if you're looking for that instead! Turnaround depends on fic length and my schedule. I’m relatively fast, but if something comes up, I’ll let you know immediately. If you need references from people I betaed for, let me know. Notes on relationships: I’m willing to beta some ships along with gen/platonic relationships for the fandoms listed above. Notes on characters: There are some characters whom I’m not that fond of or interested in. I’m open to betaing almost anything, provided it follows my wants/DNWs, even with characters I’m less keen about/don’t care for, but feel free to contact me if you have questions about this. Notes on universes: For 616 and Ults, I’ll only do an AU or a story that doesn’t require specific knowledge of canon events for me to beta properly. I’ve only watched a handful of AA episodes. I’m open to Noir, AvAc, 3490, EMH, AA, 1872, Bullet Points, and Earth-TRN634 (Civil Warrior) for Steve/Tony as well.

Ratings: Gen, Teen, Mature

Can pods bid on this auction? No - I'd rather not be bid on by pods

CLICK HERE TO BID ON THIS WORK

-- Digital Work --

Auction ID: 3026

Will create works for the following relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark - Any Universe Bucky Barnes/Sam Wilson - MCU Iron Man fandom any gen - 616, AvAc, MCU Captain America fandom any gen - 616, AvAc, MCU Avengers fandom any gen - 616, 1872, AvAc, EMH, MCU Shang-Chi fandom any gen - MCU Black Widow fandom any gen - MCU Black Panther fandom any gen - MCU Spider-Man fandom any gen - Earth-42, Spider-Verse (animated films) Ms. Marvel fandom any gen - 616, MCU

Work Description: I’m offering a mood board for a character(s) or a fic of your choice (no NSFW shots) according to the theme or tone you want. Examples here. I’m up for all gen and most ships for the fandoms listed above with a few exceptions. If you have any questions, please contact me! You’ll get your mood board in 1–3 weeks, depending on whether I need to read a fic or not and how packed my schedule is. If the winning bid reaches $20, I’ll make two mood boards. For every $10 after that, I’ll throw in an extra mood board.

Ratings: Gen, Teen, Mature

Can pods bid on this auction? Yes - Podbids welcome!

CLICK HERE TO BID ON THIS WORK

The auction runs from October 22 (12 AM ET) to October 28 (11:59:59 PM ET). Visit marveltrumpshate.com during Auction Week to view all of our auctions and to place your bids!

[georgiasbloom]

things in the g3 lego friends reboot that (in my opinion) need to be discussed

autumn having a limb difference is beautiful. it’s not the first time lego has introduced a physically disabled character (ref. kenny and savannah from girls on a mission) so the fact it’s not just a “hey everybody, look what we did! now praise us!” moment is also great

paisley struggling with social anxiety is so djdjdjd so real. she’s so cute. and i am excited to see the relationship between her and music. i am very excited for that

LIANN CANONICALLY HAVING ADHD IS SO GOOD BCS 1. REP!! 2. I KNEW IT WAS HER. I KNEW IT from a mile away, i knew it. as soon as we saw the bios and lego said “we’re gonna have neurodivergent characters” I POINTED MY FINGER AT HER AND SAID if it’s going to be anyone, it’s her (they’re all nd in my mind but like. cmon now).

nova having a blunt communication style… does not think before she speaks… does not beat around the bush… tech genius… skilled and hyper focused in her video games… hmmmm….. 👀

i love the whole struggling to keep up with expectations trope. it’s truly golden. the pressures are real, the struggle is real. i’m glad aliya was chosen to be highlighted sorts as the mc because she’s just so beautiful and interesting and i can’t wait to get more from her

leo being an immigrant? so true, so true. he’s so sweet and so silly, probably my favourite of the boy characters so far. he’s so cool.

ZAC BEING FRENCH HEJEHEJEH i love this sm, i’d love to hear some french in lego friends it will make me very happy

olly… special interests… communication struggles… ayy… ayo??? 👀

[nubimera]

Just more headcanon about Gavin and sibling!Reader but this time is a disaster

Part 1

A/N: I don't normally post my headcanons but now Gavin and Reader live in my head rent free and i need to talk about it, soooo let's go.

Warnings: Child loss (I mention Cole), Parent death and mild mention of canon violence. GN!Reader

Terrible English because it's not my first language.

I think that's all

──────────────

•Ok, first of all: Mama Reed is a russian immigrant bc i said so

•She moved to Detroit with her parents when she was 14/15 yo, circa mid 90's

•She remain pregnant of Gavin fairly young, in the 2002. Gavin's father was not in the picture, so she become a single mother (and originally Gavin had her last name. But we will return to this point later)

•For the next 7/8 years that she was alone with Gavin, she changed several jobs, until she officially became a secretary in the DPD

•Nice job, fixed hours and decent salary. And starting work at the DPD meant she no longer had to ask her parents for help looking after Gavin (they didn't mind at all, and Gavin enjoy is time with his grandparents. He also learn speak russian from them. But mama Reed is a proud woman, and she doesn't like ask for help)

Basically it is during her time as a secretary that she meets Papa Reed. And consequently Hank, since the two were best friends and partners at the time

•So it ended up that after a couple of years of dating Mama and Papa Reed got married. Gavin is a big mama boy so it's took a long time for him to warm up to the idea of ​​not being alone with his mother anymore. After some time he accepted it, and was officially adopted by his stepfather and changing his last name to "Reed"

•Plus Uncle Hank entered the picture

•Gavin as a child adored Hank. His relationship with his stepfather always remained cordial but detached, but that wasn't the case with Uncle Hank.

Hank becomes Gavin's role model quite quickly

•Anyway didn't take long before Mama Reed got pregnant again, and Gavin was absolutely thrilled to be a big brother

•Now, I'm a firm believer that Gavin and Reader are around 11 years apart So imagine preteen!Gavin holding baby!reader for the first time

•Think about Gavin and baby!Reader watching cartoons together

•Or Gavin in his emo days playing hide and seek with toddler!Reader

•Or Gavin who spends his time teaching Russian to Reader

•Reader pretty much becomes Gavin's favorite person, and he have the biggest soft spot for them. Throughout Reader's childhood and adolescence, Gavin did his best to be the best role model he could be.

•Gavin basically invented the trope "Asshole to anyone but you" platonic version

•He keep the whole "Asshole to anyone but you" attitude throughout high school.

And during his time in the police academy.

Even after officially becoming a police officer.

•Many cops and detectives already knew Gavin becouse his parents and Hank, so it wasn't a huge surprise when they first encountered him. They were mentally prepared for his sarcastic responses and general behavior

What they weren't ready for was the way he changed his attitude with Reader. Imagine the DPD's shock the first time they saw Detective Gavin Reed not verbally bullying someone

•After Reader also joined the police force, many breathed a sigh of relief convinced that Gavin would finally calm down and stop being a massive jerk with his younger sibling constantly around the department . They were wrong. Their colleagues soon discovered that it's not particularly nice to work with a constantly worried and overprotective Gavin.

•The situation worsened significantly after Reader's promotion to detective, and Hank's assignment as his partner.

After Cole's death, the relationship between the Reed siblings and Hank became particularly strained, reaching breaking point for Gavin with the death on service of Papa Reed. Gavin had spent his entire childhood and adolescence idolizing Hank, and relied on him for his stepfather's safeguard. Now for Gav, his "uncle" is no longer someone he can trust and rely on, so at the prospect of Reader working with Hank he doesn't feel comfortable

•To be fair, even Hank didn't like the idea of ​​working with Reader, and he spent the first two months complaining to Fowler about it

•The last straw for Gavin however was Connor's entrance. He can almost stand Hank and Reader being partners, but can't stand the talking Tincan. Gavin doesn't like androids, but he especially doesn't like them around his family

•I think Reader is well aware of Gavin's issues with androids, and to some extent always trying to understand their brother, but during November 2038 Reader literally say "fuck it". They have investigations to conduct, and Gavin won't be the one to undermine them with his issues with Connor.

Reader has taken a firm stand since then, and isn't interested in Gavin's opinion on this matter. This leads to many problems between the Reed siblings, and the eldest easily puts all the blame on Connor. He probably knows deep down that it's not the android's fault, but at the moment he is to bitter to accept that perhaps this time he is wrong

•Basically the whole scene in the evidence room between Connor and Gavin in the mission "Last Chance, Connor", is because Gavin rather than choosing a little introspection chooses to pour all his frustration on Connor And he ends up getting beaten too

That rough buddy

•By The way after the android revolution the situation between Reader and Gavin calms down and finally they start talking like normal people again, instead of seeing who of the two can scream more

•Gavin still has trouble seeing Hank and Connor around Reader, but decides to give them the benefit of the doubt for once

[2ndbat]

///some stuff to note while I'm doing my drafts; for my blogs canon, Bruce himself is of asian american descent (japanese specifically). there are a couple reasons for this. 1) as a child thats just how my brain interpreted his cartoon design, especially in the new adventures and JLTAS/JLU era. 2) one of the newer comics decided Terry was half japanese american 3) i used to rp as DCAU Bruce years ago and i said screw it and made him asian american (had his ancestors take american/western names when they immigrated and name their children accordingly) so this i somewhat a continuation of that 4) because why not? diversity is important to me. (EDIT) later on in life it also felt better to have someone of asian descent learn martial arts and excel at it over others who were also asian rather than what is the normal trope 5) it's my blog and it leans heavily into multi-verse shenanigans so its not a stretch imo for Terry to see a Caucasian Bruce and be like "???? i guess im really not home after all"

I'm not sure how i'd classify Diana's ethnicity, considering her origins. So for now Terry is at least half japanese american.

[14carrotghoul]

For the fruit ask game, I can't decide, so: 🍓🍊🍍🥝🍐🫐🍇

you gave me Homework lmaoooo

🍓 What’s a fic you’ve written you feel is underrated?

oooh while I feel like the comments and response on this have been very passionate, it didn't get a ton of hits so I'm saying IX. THE HERMIT

🍊 Who’s a character you don’t write for that often, but keep meaning to write for more?

Answered here but Raf, Bea, Ellen

🍍 What kind of AUs do you like? Are there any AUs you hate or just generally have beef with?

I love chef AUs and actor AUs for more lighthearted stuff and the little magical realism that's been written in the RWRB has been incredible. ALSO recently put together that I am a sucker for the very specific canon divergence of Alex and Henry breaking up at Kensington and slowly getting back together. I don't think I really have beef with certain AUs but I never read crossovers (with one super niche exception here because that author's characterization is always impeccable)

🥝 What’s your favorite trope/AO3 tag to write?

also answered in the linked ask

🍐 Is there anything in canon that you absolutely hate and love to fix in fics?

I don't think I've written any fix-it type of stuff?? there's some silly misstranslations from the book but nothing big

one thing i did write recently though is Oscar's frustration with giving up opportunities for Ellen to advance in politics is rooted in feeling like he's letting his community down because even though Ellen is (allegedly) progressive, she still doesn't have the background to understand and fight for issues concerning immigration and racism in the way that he does. so i think to grow up having it be your dream to fight for justice for people like you and then pull punches/decline opportunities would be very difficult

🫐 What’s your favorite underrated thing in your fandom?

wouldn't say it's underrated but I'm loving that there's more Latine/Hispanic writers incorporating Spanish and Mexican/Latin culture into their fics!!!! <3

🍇 Is there a particular scene/episode/book/etc that you want to just write a million fics about, over and over? Which one?

not really lol maybe post-canon in general, but I usually don't like to revisit ideas

[murdermetamay]

Week 2: "Outside"

(connections to other media, social issues, etc)

Week 2 of MurderMetaMay runs from runs from May 11 - May 17!

The Murderbot Diaries are part of a long tradition of AI/robot media in sci-fi; they also speak to real-world social issues of capitalism, oppression, surveillance, queerness, neurodivergence, mental illness, and feeling like/being treated as an outsider. Week 2 encourages you to create meta and analysis about TMBD's place in sci-fi, in literature, connections to or opposition to other uses of sci-fi or literary tropes, or what it has to say about social issues of our day.

Share your thoughts on how The Murderbot Diaries connects to the wider sci-fi canon! What are some themes in the series that speak to real-world issues? etc.

Some prompts:

Similarities/differences between Murderbot and other robots from sci-fi

Murderbot and anxiety/depression

Murderbot and autism, aromanticism/asexuality/agender identity, immigrant experience

Portrayals of race/ethnicity in the series

We've got more prompts over in our AO3 collection prompt list. But you don't have to write to a prompt, just to your heart. <3