#DON'T READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE ME DISCUSS FANFICS I LIKE IN DETAIL

[shepscapades]

DBHC [Detroit Become Hermitcraft] AU MASTERPOST

This is a compiled list of links to every major dbhc post, including links to art, a list of tags that I use to organize everything for this au on my blog, character tags, and any other content for the au that you may want to specifically look for! I will do my best to update this Masterpost with every new major post I publish, so feel free to keep checking the original post (not reblogs, which will not retain edits) for new content! (Likewise, if you stumble upon a link that doesn't seem right, please feel free to let me know!)

Everything is organized below the read more by an Overview of information about the au and content organized by character. Within each character's section, posts are organized in a narrative chronological order-- NOT the order in which the posts were published. Most characters are organized in groups so links do not appear more than once.

Thank you for reading and enjoying my silly au! It's baffling to me how many people have found an interest in or love for this project, and everyone's support, encouragement, and general insanity means the world to me! <3

OVERVIEW

Dbhc, or the Detroit Become Hermitcraft AU, is an au that started as a joke and very quickly stopped being a joke LKFJGDG It’s called Detroit Become Hermitcraft, but not really because it has anything to do with the base game DBH– really, I only yoinked the android mechanics and inserted them into the minecraft-based world of hermitcraft. It’s an au that starts in Hermitcraft Season 8 (aka, many of the first androids were built for the beginning of s8 in this au), meaning that the seasons prior in this au do not technically have those hermits as part of their history. The Life Series are canon to this au, but like earlier hermitcraft seasons, 3rd Life is missing all of the android hermits due to it having taken place prior to HC Season 8.

GUIDE TO ANDROIDS - An official guide to how androids function, for those unfamiliar with dbh androids!

TAG LIST

#dbhc – any and everything dbhc! #dbhc art – any art, comics, or silly doodles that feature the dbhc characters #dbhc ask – any response to an ask or submission that I answer related to dbhc– could be silly asks or asks related to lore! #dbhc music – any art or asks in which I speak about the music on the dbhc playlists or use the songs as inspiration for art of the narrative #dbhc fanart – any dbhc art not made by me! #dbhc fanfic – any dbhc writing not written by me! #dbhc writing – works of writing that either I’ve done or works that I consider canon to the au! (see below for links to each of these works) #dbhc sillies – these are usually asks I’ve answered that include ridiculous doodles or humorous references to more serious or angsty lore posts #dbhc theories – not a consistent tag, but something I decided to start using for asks that have interesting theories that I don't want to confirm or deny. Also used in general for large theory-based asks/my reactions to them #dbhc mechanics – any explanations related to the way the androids function [i'm still currently in the process of going back through everything and working this tag in!] #dbhc ref – official reference sheets for the characters #dbhc explained – Any major comic that I've broken down into explained details and ramblings!

CHARACTER TAG LIST:

Character tags will be listed as #dbhc [name]. They contain both art of those characters and any mentions/discussions of them from asks. If a character is discussed or shown in any capacity, those posts should have the respective character tags! I believe these are all of the characters discussed/referenced so far:

#dbhc android 24 || #dbhc beef || #dbhc bdubs || #dbhc cleo || #dbhc cub || #dbhc doc || #dbhc etho || #dbhc false || #dbhc gem || #dbhc grian || #dbhc hypno || #dbhc impulse || #dbhc iskall || #dbhc jevin || #dbhc joe || #dbhc joel || #dbhc jimmy || #dbhc keralis ||#dbhc mumbo || #dbhc pearl || #dbhc ren || #dbhc scar || #dbhc skizz || #dbhc tango || #dbhc wels || #dbhc xb || #dbhc xisuma || #dbhc zed

CHARACTER POST LIST

Since Tumblr has a link embed limit of 100, I had to move every character section to it's own post :[ Which is a little annoying, but giving each character group their own post will hopefully prevent any issues going forward as I continue to add to the au without fear of hitting a link limit.

As mentioned above, the below individual posts are organized by Characters or Groups of Characters. Within each section, drawings are organized by NARRATIVE CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER (Not the order in which they were posted/published).  These links contain links to posts/art specifically centered around the characters they're listed under. All posts that have a collection of characters, moments, or drawings not centered around any one specific character/characters will be found under "Other Drawings!" Stuff from Secret Life, Decked out, and other silly drawings can be found there. Character's are often cameo'd all over the place, so if you're looking for all of the content of a specific character, your best bet is perusing their respective character tag (listed above)! The posts below are to present a better/more cohesive idea of the ordered narrative of each character.

ETHO + BDUBS

MUMBO + CO.

DOC + CO.

IMPULSE + CO.

TANGO + CO.

CUB + CO.

JOE + CO.

SKIZZ + CO.

XISUMA + 24 + CO.

XB + CO.

OTHER DRAWINGS [GROUPS/COLLECTIONS]

WRITING WORKS

[x] Don't Let it Reach the Heart (Coming Soon!)

Canon Events. To Me (by other authors!) <3

[x] @tunastime Gear of the Heart, Turning [ethubs] [x] @tunastime Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? [docsuma]

Fanfic Works I consider closely adjacent to canon:

[x] @set-in-stardust [ethubs first kiss!] [x] @set-in-stardust [s9 reset etho re-deviates] [x] @drachis917 [Impulse meets Gem!] [x] @listentothelittlebird [A Visit To Doc's Skyblock Jail]

[dadattebayo]

So today I bumped on this post and wanted to share some thoughts on the subject, but the account I reblogged it from seems to be off now so I lost my post and no one sees it. Still want to keep it, so...

Sorry, with all respect, but I just don’t get it. Like … WHY should we stop asking them about the thing they actually play? What exactly so bad happens to them if we do? By the thing I mean Haladriel as a ship. They play it. Literally.

Come one, it's obvious the show itself launched the ship. Intentionally, using all classic cinematic tools to make the exact romantic subtext visible to the audience (like gestures, poses, camera angles, looks eyes to eyes, sensual whisper) so we could definitely read it as romantic even if they refuse to confirm it openly. (Due to the possible unhinged reaction of the lorebros, I’m sure) So basically the show implied romance between them from the beginning, and now since they are stepping back, we just have to be ashamed to ask questions? Surely the actors give more interviews then the showrunners, because they are the faces of the characters, their representatives, they could give you the insight no one else could give since they play it and are the most involved in their personalities and emotions. They should be able to explain their motives and thoughts. This is how the acting craft works, they must FEEL the character. This is why for fans, hearing actors discuss a ship is like hearing the characters discuss their own feelings.

See what I mean? Typical romantic cinematic hint.

So again why shouldn't we ask them? why not let the actors talk about their interpretation? Miriel and Elendil's actors shouldn't be asked about them too, or it only concerns Morfydd and Charlie for some reason?

For god sake we all know the ship is doomed, there will be no future, but still the show revolves around them, even in the end of s2 he still mentioned she's his queen. But there was not enough interaction, mostly ambiguous one that we have to explain and develop ourselves, so why should we be deprived as well of their vision and of any extra detail we would like to know from the first hands? | don't feel like it.

And I think people just need to stop decide for the actors how they feel and being overprotective over literally nothing. Shipping is a part of any fan culture. And the actors are not made of glass, they actually are even supposed to speak out. Once again: the show presented and developed the ship. The actors play the characters of this ship. They play the feelings we all see. They are aware of the subtext. They do not feel ashamed to play it. They are not ashamed to play those characters. So we don't have to be ashamed to want to know more about what they play, what they mean and what is their vision on it. There is no harm being caused.

I actually miss good all days when the actors were not considered this sensitive. like for example during the promotion of the X-MEN both Mcavoy and Fassbender got unstoppably asked like million questions about their MAGNETO/XAVIER (Cherik) ship, they were shown fanarts and fanfics, even the explicit ones, they even had to read out loud some about themselves (yeah-yeah, not their characters, but specifically real-person ship aka FassAvoy). No one got offended. One can say they even encouraged it. Homosexual ship. McAvoy was married at that time. Still they were goofing around, touching each other and hugging all the time, talking about their character bromance and generally spreading fanservice all over the fandom. They were having fun alongside with the fans. This was gold.

By the way the same story with their characters: they are a protagonist and a villain , two opposites with sort of cosmic connection, they just won’t let each other go peacefully. There is love, hate, friendship, rivalry and pain. Some fans see them as a friends/foes, shippers like me see them as lovers. This ship is giant, and thank for the actors interaction and involvement into the fandom it just got deeper and much more exciting.

Highly recommended to explore.

Remind you of something? 🙃

[olderthannetfic]

https://www.tumblr.com/olderthannetfic/761458928081125376/i-keep-seeing-posts-like-fanfic-authors-please?source=share

Im sure there's people asking for and acting like smut needs to be educational 100% of the time, and yeah that's annoying, but on the other hand I actually quite enjoy smut that lays out all the details of consent and birth control and boundaries. I find it soothing, I find it sexy, I like it when its realistic. Call me crazy! Not wanting every single smut I read to be about two people going at it like animals in heat! Sometimes I want to read something that actually feels real. Crazy, I know. Maybe I have a consent kink, I don't know, but you know what, I don't think people that want to read that should be shit on for wanting it. When every single smut fic I read has no conversations about it, no discussions of safe words, no aftercare, no nothing that makes it feel grounded, yeah I'm gonna complain about it. Is it right for people to be going into comment sections complaining about it to authors who write the smut they don't like? No of course not, don't do that. But we have a right to complain about it online.

And I already write it, so don't come with the "just write it yourself" I already do. So you can read your unrealistic smut, and I can read my realistic smut, and we can complain about each other in our little spaces, but don't insult the people that like what they like just because you find it unsexy

--

[astralnymphh]

I just got on and saw what’s been happening and bro…I’m glad people are talking about it. Mostly about the smut, inclusivity, Palestine, and the fetishization of trans people.

Reading smut is so underwhelming like it seems like that’s all what people write these days. Like I need ANGST! I need to CRY! I need SLOW BURN AND PLOT….

And to be honest, I personally feel like some writers purposely list the reader’s physical descriptions as being white… like damn you know multiple people are going to come across your shit. I would get annoyed asf when I see something like “she touched your soft pale flushed skin” BITCH- 💀 don’t piss me off 😒🦶🏽

I won’t speak too in depth about the fetishization of trans people in fanfics because I’m not trans and I don’t want to say anything inaccurate BUT I will say it’s so disturbing and off putting seeing shit like that and seeing how people are sexualizing trans people more than treating them like regular humans…I also came across that ‘femcel’ series and🧍🏽‍♀️erm… no.

I appreciate the account who made the post discussing how the word trans and the f word are completely different. I didn’t even know that word was derogatory and it shocked me... I hope that account takes it down and they educate themselves or something cause 🙁👎🏽

yes pook YES smut can be underwhelming and so overdone. we definitely need more angst/fluff.. or just PLOT in general. no, i'm not saying don't write it at all (incase anons twist my words, cause.. they're good at that.) i'm just saying that it would be nice to see some fully fleshed out pieces with emotion and storytelling. i have something in the works though, that encompasses all genres (fluff/smut/angst) so, there's that!

people will so clearly write the whole petite pale white girl bs like "ur delicate small hand" or the fuckass "doey eyed and blushing cherub red" like NEVER portray reader so specifically unless you're going to specify it in the cw!!!! do whatever for ellie's white ass but for the love of gods and goddess BE AWARE OF READER AS A SPOT TO FILL, NOT AN OC!!!! idk how else to describe what i just said. but. it is said. so it. yeah. that whole delicate small petite thing kinda trickles into writing childlike readers too but. thats a whole nother discussion. no clue if i ever used that phrasing in the past tho i have no bold memories of my writings in detail.

i think people will listen to anybody but trans people who are actively calling it fetishization, like. all the mfs arguing with them say "trans and f💀ta aren't the same!" yeah. they aren't. cause one is like, a genuine, flesh and bone person.. with a whole story.. and feelings.. and experiences.. and one is.. fetishization. how many times do trans people have to repeat that? bet most of the people trying to argue against it aren't even trans.

the whole thing about authors "flooding" the tlou tag with palestine posts is also dumb as fuck. is scrolling a bit too taxing on your poor smut-guzzling thumbs?? ur scrolling over big booty fics, i think you can scroll a little further past those posts if you're really that much of a basement dwelling fuck that's sitting comfortably in their homes while a genocide is happening. out here sobbing cause people are spreading awareness. eat my bum bum booty. ++ also add-on cause we're holding writers accountable for ignoring a strike (different than not knowing at first) but there's also the artists!! they're there too.

anons r gonna come into my inbox abt all this but i'm not even gonna answer like, don't waste your time. im not reading all that. especially coming from an ANON 💀

me when

[statementlou]

Maya went on The Internet Is Dead podcast to be interviewed about her relationship with Liam and it's interesting; I recommend it for people who were curious about untangling the details in her book from real life (they talk about this in a number of different places with some detail), people who think she's making everything up, and anyone else sending hostile asks about her- we know she is following the fandom talk and responding to it but I have to say it's very satisfying to listen to her rattle through the exact arguments anons on here are sending around and answer every one of them.

some detail below the cut:

The experience was kind of grating at times; maybe it's just me but I never find it enjoyable to listen to people outside of fandom or casual 1D fans talk about us, and I cringe and bristle literally every time someone says "these people" or "they think", plus the hosts are not super useful; they refer to her tiktoks and book repeatedly without actually giving context for the discussion, like I could do with the occasional "in the book you say…" rather than just chatting about it and leaving us to figure out what they are talking about (they don't even say the name of the book), but whatever. There's interesting stuff in there so it was worth it for me and if you prefer you can just get my highlights, here ya go-

-Her making the point that the media training all of the 1D guys have done from such a young age not only impacts how they talk to the press but also how they talk to people in their lives, the tools it gives them for communicating with (and in this case, manipulating) people was fascinating to me, I hadn't thought about that but I will be in the future with regard to all of them, it's just very interesting to have in mind

-she says she had the book read by lawyers before publishing because it was about someone real and real events, and provided proof for things they asked about

-she points out that she has nothing to gain from making this up, and that as someone who works in a law office and is planning to go to legal school, that the fact that bringing false accusations against someone is illegal would be a huge deterrent to lying

-she says that one of the reasons she initially soft pedaled in terms of outright saying that the book was about Liam was that podcasts and such she went on didn't want her to say it, didn't want the liability, and that when she did say it that part would not get printed or would be edited out (hey speaking of this what are all these interviews she did about the book why am I just now hearing about it... when you guys see stuff like this let me know! I am interested and will maybe recap for you even!)

-she mentions Liam's silence on the whole thing more than once; "if someone wrote that about me and it wasn't true I would not just say nothing!"

-she says that her and Liam went to see After not knowing it was a 1D fanfic and then, after finding that out, he joked that she should write a book about them, and that it was where the seed of the idea came from

[ohmycale]

 On fanon, canon and details Dark Souls style

Hey, @mellowwater.

I’m sorry if this is late and I haven’t replied to this in my original post. In truth, I have tried to go back and actually answer this question. I made a few drafts but I opted for this instead. The most important thing is you pointed out is this- there is a lot of not confirmed details gets floated around and we don't know what's what. People latch on info that they feel is the truth.

Canon tells us that when Jour died, Deruth did distance himself from his son. We both know they are both grieving and Cale (in Ron's memories) was trying to reach out. Deruth in the same memories was painted as someone clinging to Cale at that event.

Personally, Deruth distancing due to his grief and is understandable in an adult's POV. But it is confusing for someone in Cale's age at that time. I am sure not many have heard it but there is a thing called childhood emotional neglect. This is what I interpret as what happened to kid!Og!Cale. I think it also happened when Violan and Basen came into the picture and when Lily was born because they now trying to be a blended family. It would be normal for og!Cale to be feeling left out or replaced in this new dynamic.

Realistically, we‘re trying to find nuance on very little information, much less confirmed/canon information. It doesn’t help that the topic of the said info are side characters who are, for the sake of writing, not the interest of the story/ TCF in whole.

And of course there is the fanfic side, whether everything is basically under the sun. In fanfic, things get more muddled because there is a lot of character/plot interpretation (and even reinterpretation (I’m looking at you, do-over/fix-it fics/characters react to the plot fics). They are also people in the fandom who have some personal experience about a certain experience with our biases and projection. Same goes for fans who don’t have the said experience being projected.

Talking about og!Cale or any side character is like playing any game from FromSoftware. If you are not familiar with the videogame company aka creator of Dark Souls (you died!), there is lore on the game but you will be hard pressed to find a coherent storyline. I think TCF is the same – the author gives a ton of interesting characters and details about them but it feels wanting since you guessed it- they are side characters and practically, they don’t have much details.

Back to the TCF – I think it is okay to not have full details on what is fanon or canon. For me, whether the info is fanon or canon, it generates discussion, conversation, ideas and things that we (as fans) can throw at each other. Realistically, we cannot press for more info – the author gave us a few details and that’s it. They chose not to do more details. And fans discussing things will stick to what they want to believe – whether it is canon or fanon. It’s up to them whether to believe them or not. A fan can have their own cannon (aka headcannon) and it’s up to them to change their minds from other that. Even if somebody does bring forth canon, how many people are actually gonna believe that if it messes up with their headcannon?

In previous posts, I was welcoming anyone to challenge whatever I posted with canon evidence to the contrary since details get muddy. So far, nothing. But there are posts who post information whether it’s canon or fanon. I just opted for reading and reacting to what people post, whether fanon or canon since not a lot of people are posting canon, especially on the relationship dynamics of characters. Maybe there is someone who is more industrious than me out there.

I know I didn’t actually answer your question. I also know I have some many unanswered questions that I don’t even know if the canon covered. Because of the really lack of info, I don’t see fanon as something really bad especially for topics that we don’t really have info on. We all want clarity, alas, there is not much we can find.

[kusakiguzen]

*Takes a deep breath and deflates* HELLOOOOO!!! Well, I'm sad again, but like your master, I didn't lie, I'M OBSESSED with Manhwa, and I also wanted to say if it's possible... You can make a scenario or whatever (I have no limits to tell you what I want, There are so many Husbandos that there are in the Manhwa that I read, ML or main character) Anyway, this time I want, if possible, a somewhat silly scenario far from the canon.

I know I'm going to ramble, but I can't help it! I have 2 AUs for my 3 favorite men (Kim Dokja, Yoo Joonghyuk and the FUCKING beautiful Sung Jinwoo) By the way I want it to be far from canon because I don't know, I read the novels 3 years ago I don't remember anything! hahaha. Anyway, I would like it if you made a combination of rofan with dungeons.

(I'm delusional with what I'll say next, please don't judge me!) But in my crazy AU, Dokja and Joonghyuk are Secretive-Plotter (I know pure brain shit but UGHH!) The reader is ultimately reincarnated in a Rofan fanfic from ORV where the author did what he wanted with the characters, but this novel/fanfic has secrets beyond it. For example, the FL is the enemy of my two bbys, but the reader is the villain (I don't know what to say, damn, my head is messed up!) I hope you can solve this hahahaha...

I just want yandere rot, also in this AU they made a tower of tests to see if humanity should live or not, especially because they killed their beloved (A star who is conveniently the reader but now as a human hahaha Lol what the shit is this? 😭🥺🫣) And it no longer occurs to him that it continues hahaha, anyway I leave you an edit that I have of them (yes, I have this AU since 2022, I even have a bot on yodayo) Thanks for reading this shit hahahaha you can ignore this if you want or if I broke one of your rules (If the edit is stale and weird ugh) 😭😭💀

UMMM.... HII Thank you for requesting I really apreciated it but I have few questions if u don't mind answering them to make my life a little easier.

What does 'Rofan' mean? because i haven't read ORV in like a year.

"The reader is ultimately reincarnated in a Rofan fanfic from ORV where the author did what he wanted with the characters, but this novel/fanfic has secrets beyond it. For example, the FL is the enemy of my two bbys, but the reader is the villain" This part i would like it if it were a little organized? cuz i cannot get it in my head or i'm just sleep deprived.

And please tell me if i understood this part right. "this AU they made a tower of tests to see if humanity should live or not, especially because they killed their beloved (A star who is conveniently the reader but now as a human hahaha Lol what the shit is this? 😭🥺🫣) And it no longer occurs to him that it continues hahaha, anyway I leave you an edit that I have of them (yes, I have this AU since 2022, I even have a bot on yodayo" In this Kim Dokja, Yoo Joonghyuk and Sung Jinwoo or the two ORV characters created the tower because The star (reader ) was killed by the humans and they want to test them? but the reader gets reincarnated as human?

I Think I should ORV again to get a clear idea but it would be really nice if it was a little more detailed and i would really like it if i could discuss it (the fic) with you so i could get to know more about your AU if its okay with you?

And No you did not break any rules and i really like this idea!! I hope you would consider my idea to discuss this AU.

And again Thank you for requesting

[mixu]

Naruto and H1n0t0's wedding chapter confirms SNS

While doing research alongside @ilbenmalpensanteus for a fanfic, the subject of Shippuden's last chapter aka the wedding and some misconceptions you might have heard about (promoted by s*s* no less) were brought up. I went to re-watch the scene and found some interesting things that, perhaps not so surprisingly, support sns case.

I want to do this as extensively as possible, so the analysis will be composed of multiple parts.

(pt.1) The usual delusion of Sakura and s*s* fans

It all started because I was informed some s*s* were saying the note Sasuke's summon delivered was meant to congratulate Sakura for her birthday and not Naruto for the wedding. I was pretty sure that wasn't the case but went to confirm it because I only watched the chapter once and superficially.

I confirmed s*s* claims as preposterous right away, as expected.

The kanji written in the note 「寿」 which is read as 「ことぶき」 or "kotobuki" simply means "congratulations" "best wishes" or "longevity". It is a formal kanji used for formal affairs (weddings, duh!) and definitely not for the birthday of a partner or love interest, in which case it is preferred to use some variant for 「誕生日おめでとう」 or "tanjôbi omedetô".

Also, no, the wedding didn't take place during Sakura´s birthday just because it looks like a "Hanami" event because there isn't a fixed date for such a celebration. The date on which it is celebrated depends on the region where it is celebrated, ranging from March to May in the northernmost parts of Japan.

The summon landed on Sakura's arm because at that moment Naruto was indoors and Sakura only smiled and blushed because she gets off on anything Sasuke related and is creepy.

(pt.2) Sasuke's not so subtle fuck this wedding congratulatory note

I don't know who was involved in this wedding thing but I don't think this wasn't on purpose. I can't believe I have not seen any discussion about this, but well, I joined Tumblr relatively recently, and there must have been some mention around Japanese forums that I most likely won't have the time to look for. (let me know if you have more information)

Anyway, for context, there are many social conventions followed by the Japanese people depending on the circumstances. One of the many that apply to celebrations is 「祝儀袋」 read as 「しゅうぎぶくろ」 or "shûgibukuro" which literally means "envelope for monetary gifts". Now, this could apply to funerals, new year and, of course, weddings, and there are strict rules one must follow to avoid being rude.

The amount of money gifted depends on the closeness of the relationship between the new couple and the wedding guests.

The amount of money must match the envelope. In other words, if you are using an expensive fine envelope, you should gift more money and vice-versa.

Even when you won't attend the wedding you should send a "non-attendance" envelope with a fixed amount of money.

The details and ornaments on the envelope the guests choose reflect upon the wishes they have for the newlyweds.

Here I present some examples:

First of all, you can see the kanji used in all the envelopes is the same Sasuke used for his note. The ornament that looks like an origami figure means good luck and the more complex it looks, the finer is the envelope. The same goes for the complexity and color of the knots. A golden-silver cord is better than the red-white one and the more difficult a knot is to unravel the better, because it means the newlyweds have strong bonds. The knot in the first image is one of the bests because the shape is meant to represent a rising sun and the start of a new stage in the couples lives, also its the most difficult to untie. The second one is considered standard and the third one is for no-attendees. The fourth is not recommended because the knot is easy to untie.

There are many other characteristics, but I think this overview is enough to understand Sasuke's note was a direct pronouncement against the wedding. As Naruto's best friend he should have sent half of his Uchiha inheritance inside an envelope like this one

What did Naruto get?

A "Fuck you" would have been more subtle.

Edit: What Naruto got from other wedding guests

****************************************************************

I'll leave it here for today, but expect the analysis of Kakashi and Iruka's conversation. Iruka and Naruto as well as Naruto and Hinata looking at the Hokage monument.

If you are skeptical about the information I shared, here's my source and there are lots of youtube videos where this is also explained.

[velvetvexations]

Oh btw about predatorjacketing and kinkshaming trans people;

This is generally going on among modern fandoms and among young queer and trans adults outside of just transfems.

I've seen plenty of non-transfeminine nonbinary and transmasculine folk get hunted down and harassed over cartoon porn they draw. I don't know in detail if it's more frequent or violent towards transfeminine folk (it could be, - given how mainstream transmisogyny relates to the gay or gnc men as predators myth).

I'm transmasc and I don't have a NSFW art platform at all because I'm THAT scared of people finding it, associating it with my mains and then slandering me over it. I can not find community around my kinks etc. because I feel unsafe to discuss that with the vast majority of people. And yes, my transness is a factor. I always feel that it if I was a feminine cis woman I would be seen as cute and innocent. I have a very deep instinctive feeling that my transness to many people represents a sexual threat and that it's easier to demonize me over kinks bcs I stick out too much etc.

Even in a women's changing room I feel that my masculinity is in this stark direct contrast with most people I share that space with, - that I have to be really careful of how I move, where I look and how I come across. I have felt for my whole life, even when being a fem presenting teen, that I am clocked as a boy thing that doesn't belong there. Now on T, with boobs... I also have to avoid talking in those changing rooms. In the company of really fem presenting cis women I feel socially and culturally hypersexualized for my deviant masculinity, for being an apparent dyke in the midst of women. I have cptsd from being around feminine people because of how othered I am + some experiences of being subtly ruled out of the Girls TM club.

Being a sexual being with my kinds of sexual interests while having this experience as a transmasculine person is something quite vulnerable and difficult to fully become confident in and love oneself about. I think transandrophobia and transmisogyny have that whole "you're a predatory impostor among women" thing and "you emasculate straight cis men by existing" thing in common... Just from a slightly diff. angle but there's so much similiarity.

A lot of the chronic policing between transmasc people over kink and sexuality is actually a result of internalizing the idea that we are dirty masculine predators. There is a high social pressure to be cute, feminized, sanitized and say "PROSHIT DNI >:/" because transmascs have an instinctive self-awareness of how we're easily thrown to the wolves when our gender-nonconformity or sexuality is no longer cute and Christian Values Friendly enough.

Being terrified to death about some kind of predatorjacketing over writing fanfic or drawing weird cartoon porn isn't exclusive to transfems. Any transmasc person encaging in fandom or any online art subcultures is waaayyy too intimately aware of this fact 24/7.

Oh and? Transmasc people with feminine partners who are tops / encage in some kind of roleplay where they're in the 'aggressing' role are extremely stigmatized too. I see people instantly write this off as toxic masculinity or inherently gross because a transmasc does it.

A lot of transmascs (speaking from experience) who actually prefer these "scary" roles in fantasy etc., feel social pressure to over-emphasize how bottom uwu sluts we are. I've recently stopped doing this because I realized it makes me dysphoric + I only do it to make my sexuality more palatable to other people. And I see so many transmascs as like... Having to reduce themselves to these cute slut boytoys. While I fully believe this is the authenthic preference of many of them, I think as a transmasc there is a strong social pressure to be /that way/ because being seen as Gross Threatening Men is like a social death sentence.

(there's a lot of good discussion about everything on this blog btw and I love to read it. I just wanted to add 2 cents to the anti kink vs trans people discussion.)

I don't think there's any difference literally at all between how transfem and transmasc sexuality is "handled" by the internet. People have it in their head that everything is an exact 1-1 of everything else so the fact that a trans woman is more likely to be visibly tagged as a pervert just for walking down the street (transmasc members of Velvet Nation please let me know if that's inaccurate) gets transferred to the internet as though everyone treats trans men who have being trans in their bio as the first thing everyone sees as cis men.

At most TERFs might report trans women more often and I don't want to downplay the seriousness of that but get fucking real if one doesn't think trans men aren't under constant scrutiny.

[bleachbleachbleach]

Verisimilitude (long thoughts about writing)

Sometimes I get mailed random books to consider for course adoption. The first one I looked at the other day was so incredibly bad I could not make it past page 12--"oh my god I hate books" bad; "trees were wasted on this!!" bad. And then there's this one. I've made it to page 30-something and I could have told you 20 pages ago that Oliver Twist it would remain, but I am still reading it to read it, and maybe keep it to recommend extracurricularly. (The protagonist Alva is a weeb for American culture, whatever the word is for that, which I think could make for interesting study!) But that's all context to say,

AH YES THE INTERNET RABBIT HOLE OF NARUTO FAN FICTION, HENTAILORD. WE'VE ALL BEEN THERE.

SO...

BLEACH MENTION WHEN????

Based on the style of her screen name, the Naruto porn, and her listening to My Chemical Romance and Linkin Park, this girl is definitely living her teenage life in the mid-00s, in ways that are searingly obvious. Which feels like it should be a massive success in terms of using verisimilitude to pinpoint a particular time and place and, by extension, person. But I don't think it does?

In thinking about why this doesn't work for me as a reader:

1. As a general rule, I tend not to enjoy "fandom" subculture references like this in fiction, because they have never felt true to my experience of fandom, or even my experience of others' experiences of fandom. The specificity is there but not the verisimilitude. Whether this is because of an inability to articulate the breath of life that animates fandom spaces, or a feeling of needing to at least kind of translate it for the uninitiated general audience, I don't know. Not that Alva's narrative goes far enough to merit this discussion; she's just reading Naruto porn for one sentence, but it just doesn't land right for me. (Sidebar, this is probably also why I don't enjoy acafandom or fandom essays that aspire to acafandom; there's usually this attempted, manufactured critical/"objective" distance from the text that often feels performative, or at least the wrong [or less interesting] tool for the job. And even where 'in-group' positionality is addressed, the translation required to make these things legible to the out-group is just--well, not what I want in life, I guess!)

2. I am a great believer in drawing greatly from what you know and feel and all those random thoughts and behaviors and emotions and tics that make life interesting, and giving them to fiction. In fanfic especially, I am a great believer in seeing the author's hands in a text, making the story (and the original canon) unmistakably theirs. But I kind of always want them to be hands that are in the act of giving. By which I mean, I think there's a difference between all these things existing in a story and having been given to a character or a world or a story, and integrated genuinely into them.

Like, all I can think about while reading this book is how the author definitely lived through the mid-00s in a particular and very familiar way. Rather than create a richly immersive world, the details jump out of the page and leave the story behind. They don't feel like they belong to Alva (or perhaps Alva does not feel like a character with the depth to hold them and make them hers). They belong do the author, and to me, and to history, but Alva falls out of the equation. And if this is going to work, I feel like Alva can't fall out of the equation.

3. I was talking to a friend about something similar a few months ago. She was complaining about a historical fiction book she was reading with a book club she leads at the library she works at--how it was clearly very well-researched, but dry as hell. The information was not animated by the story itself. And I compared it to a fanfic I'd (not) read, where the author was very proud of all the research they'd done and how accurate-to-life its setting was. (To be clear, I'm not subtweeting Bleach fandom. Completely different fandom! Also this fanfic was published like 16 years ago.) The fic did bring in lots of specific details about trees and highways and city names--things I knew well, too, because it was set where my sister lives--but rather than be as exciting and, again, rich, as I feel like that familiarity could have been, it all felt dead. Because all these things were described specifically, but not true to how the narrating characters would describe them, or mentally catalogue them, or experience them.

And you might think, well, how would we possibly know how a character thinks about highways? It's not like he's explained this in canon. And I'd say, well, you definitely can. There are probably a lot of different ways a character could plausibly think about highways, depending on the specific shade and flavor of your characterization of them, all equally believable; but it's got to be part of the equation. There are a lot of ways to be right, and you know it when it's wrong. The wrong-est way it can be is for the way they think about highways to not factor into the way those dang highways are being described by them, in their POV.

4. I think about this both as a reader and as a writer--certainly more often as a writer, because I find that level of imagining a character's headspace the VERY best part of the process, and also because I am often concerned I am not doing it, or at least not well, lol. I'm positive I've done all the things I've just talked about not enjoying.

These concerns exist at the level of characterization work in general, but also at that level of, is the wizard behind the green curtain? Are his hands giving? Because while I do write fanfic because "it is fun" and because "this idea interests me," I am also usually writing it to work through deeply personal emotions/experiences. Which again, perhaps selfishly, I support that. But from a craft perspective I don't want it to feel, transparently, like "oh lol this author is going through it."

Moreover, from a relational perspective, I don't want that to be the relationship between me as author and the characters. Because one thing I am ALWAYS writing fanfic to do is to indulge my feelings about how much I am in complete, rapturous love with the characters and worlds in question. I don't want to just place things upon them, like a film or shroud; I want them to be given, integrated, arriving in the text wholly in their bodies and in their minds and entirely theirs. And I mean this for both the emotional arcs and conflicts and the random tics and details. I want them to have been given, and to belong, and to feel completely and inextricably theirs.

So, those are my thoughts about mid-00s Naruto porn!!!

I'd love to hear others' perspectives, as readers or writers or both. Have you had similar reactions, or quite different? Why do you write, and what do you want? What's your template for how you think about characterization, or your writerly relationship to canon/characters?

[orionsangel86]

Saz's Sandman Masterpost

Hi there! It's about time I sorted out this blog and put all my Sandman posts in one place. If you're new here, I adore the Sandman in all its forms and my blog has become a bit of a love letter to this masterpiece of media lately. I mostly write meta analysis, love to discuss the work and the characters, and occassionally try my hand at running fandom events. My ask box is always open and I am always happy to answer any questions about Sandman so please do reach out to me if you like my meta :)

I welcome all fans of The Sandman here, though I can occassionally be NSFW so if that's not your jam make sure you have "NSFW" tag blacklisted. I'm a multishipper of the firm believe that Dream of the Endless should be passed around the other characters like a bowl of goth candy. I don't tolerate ship hate. It's all good here my loves.

I have a fairly decent tagging system. I tag all ships, characters, fanart, meta discussions, fanfiction, etc. You can find the list of common tags below.

My Meta Analysis

Masterpost of Dreamling meta - this is an eight part highly detailed analysis of Dreamling in the show and how it differs from the comic and audiobook, with a focus on how queercoding was used to emphasise a deeper relationship between Dream and Hob.

Hob Gadling - A Queer Romantic - a meta about unreliable narrators, Jim/Peggy and Hob's queer potential.

The Problem with Thessaly - an opinion piece on this problematic comic character and how the show could solve this issue.

Lucienne/Lucien - How the Librarian Became the Chief - a thorough analysis of Lucienne's character in the show and how she differs from the comic and makes everything so much more hopeful.

Tales in the Sand/Men of Good Fortune - How a small swap in story placement can drastically change the tone, and foreshadowing.

Dream of the Endless - A Romantic Fool - a deep analysis about Dream and his love of romance

How to Adapt Orpheus - Theories and discussions about how the show can navigate that particular element of the comics.

How to Adapt Orpheus x 2 - definitely worth reading all the discussions on this one as well.

Shipping comic!Morpheus and merging characters in the show - can I hear it for Morpheus/Pharamond PLEASE!

A Collaborative Post about Morpheus as the villain of the story

Could Morpheus ever be content to be single?

Morpheus and Sex - an analytical point of view

Obsessive Desire - Their complex feelings for Dream - an answered ask about the siblings relationship. (I have a draft meta in the works elaborating on this that I can't wait to finish).

Fandom Events

#Death Appreciation Week - To celebrate the release of Dead Boy Detectives which guest stars Death of the Endless, I ran a Death Appreciation Week where anyone could submit fanworks focused on Death. Follow the tag on my blog which also includes a lot of reblogged older works of Death, or follow the main tumblr tag to see just that work created for the event.

#Sandtober2023 - For inktober 2023, I ran a Sandman themed inktober event which was a huge success and inspired hundreds of amazing Sandman art pieces. You can check out the Sandtober2023 main tumblr tag here. I am probably going to run this event again in October 2024 so watch this space nearer the time for that! :)

If you have any ideas for Sandman fandom events you would like to see please send me a DM.

General Blog Tags

I have a relatively consistent tagging system on my blog so to cover the main ones:

#The Sandman - literally every post about the Sandman will include this tag, so if you are a loyal mutual from fandoms past and you want to block this tag you won't see me cluttering up your feed with Sandman stuff (and thank you for still following me even if you're not a Sandman fan!)

#Dreamling - tag for the Morpheus x Hob Gadling fandom ship. I will tag all things Dreamling - fanart, fanfics, fan theories, crack posts, gifsets etc.

#Sandman Meta - any analysis about Sandman will be tagged with this. This includes both my own analysis and reblogged analysis.

#Sandman Comic Spoilers - I tag for any posts that include Sandman story information not yet revealled in the show. In case there is anyone left on Tumblr who hasn't already been spoiled for this 30 year old comic story.

Character Tags - I generally tag for any characters I reblog or post about. So if you ever want to search for posts about a specific character, you can just find the character tag in my blog. For example #Dream of the Endless or #Johanna Constantine

Ship tags - like with character tags, I always tag fandom ships. Usually by the most popular fandom name for them. #morphanna #Gaultienne

Other fandoms - I will also always tag other fandoms. I have a very long running #destiel tag, I also tag for #good omens and #ineffable husbands and I will always tag the show name, abbreviation, and ship names for any other fandoms.

Other tags - I do try to tag for content warnings where I can, but usually only extreme things. Then again, it is rare for me to post about triggering content. Even squicky content is unlikely to be found on my blog. If you ever come across something on my blog that you feel isn't tagged appropriately please just DM me and I will correct that.

A bit about me

If my blog intro hasn't covered it so far let me clarify here. I am an adult, in my 30s and have never stopped being a passionate fan about the things I love. You don't stop loving things when you hit a certain age, you just find you have less time to devote to your hobbies because of work. I am a professional with a full time job, I come here to relax and unwind. I have been in fandom far too long to be remotely interested in fandom drama. Ship wars do not interest me. Weird anti-sex anti-kink purity policing has no power here. I am fiercely anti-censorship. If I hear the word "proship" in a negative sense I will roll my eyes and assume you are a minor who has been horribly mislead by puritanicals. I don't tolerate hate, accusational bullshit, bullying behaviour, cult-like fandom worship, or any form of fandom policing. I have no time for "big name fans" and the culture around them. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt and the trauma. Learn your fandom history lest you be doomed to repeat it.

I do not engage in performative social justice. I have my beliefs, my politics, and they generally revolve around the concept that people should be fucking decent human beings and let people be free to live as they choose. Don't come at me for not yelling about the next big world ending event. The world is always ending, people are always dying, there is always a genocide happening, its fucking exhausting. Just do what you can in your actual lives, donate where you can manage, provide support to those in need, and vote out the bastards who fucked it all up.

If you've read this far and are still here welcome! I hope you love my blog and want to be fandom friends. Come send me an ask, a DM, reply to my posts, engage with my meta, and just generally scream at me about Sandman. I always love it when people scream at me about Sandman. :)

[betweenxt-the-lines]

Fic Analysis: Found in the Crack of Your Palm

Disclaimer: This analysis will contain SPOILERS. I encourage you to read the one-shot first before reading this post.

Read the fanfic here, and don't forget to leave kudos and comments to the author, @the-furthest-city-light! It's a very good time, to the point of inspiring me into writing ovo

................

The main draw that I had with this fanfic in the first place is that it characterizes Luffy as demisexual. His and Zoro's relationship is cleverly paced and built up from their small, bite-sized scenarios that capture the slow but eventual realization and admittance of his romantic feelings to Zoro.

While the one-shot is divided in several different scenes spanning many settings, The scenes in the crow’s nest with Luffy and Zoro are the most vital scenes of the fanfic. We see that throughout the story, only these two characters are shown to frequent the crow's nest. It's also the only place in the story where Zoro and Luffy allow for their vulnerability and openness to shine through, making this the location of Luffy's "checkpoint" where he reflects on his feelings and overall progress of his relationship with Zoro.

Being unaware of his feelings

When first introduced to the crow’s nest, Luffy at this point has made small notices that he’s been paying attention to Zoro in a way he’s not done with another person. In the scene before, Luffy was focused on Zoro’s physical features for the first time and he notes that it bubbles up a strange reaction inside of him.

... Zoro lying against the mast, the tender underbelly of him exposed. It does weird things to Luffy’s chest, makes his skin feel tight. His palms tingle, an itch beneath his skin to – to – 

Luffy stops his line of thinking by engaging in usual Luffy shenanigans (shooting a fish with a canon) to distract himself. Going back to Luffy and Zoro's scene in the crow’s nest, Luffy also catches the way the moon illuminates and paints Zoro’s features. Both of these scenarios points the start of his interest in Zoro. However, he too unaware of this behaviour to notice a shift within himself, and easily gives in to distractions. After staring at Zoro and taking in the night sky, Luffy comments,

“It’s pretty”, Luffy says when he’s done looking at the stars

But for someone who was just done looking at the stars, he’s paying an awful amount of more attention and focus on the way Zoro looks. Zoro’s features were intentionally described in more length, indicative of the amount of attention that Luffy was giving to them. By comparison, there was not a single description of the star’s beauty in the night sky. This made me believe that Luffy was unaware about how he’s using the stars as a cover for the feelings that he has not (for now) discovered. Luffy no doubt finds the stars to be beautiful, but he does not realize that he's not quite referring to the stars, but to Zoro. Checkpoint one in Luffy's relationship with Zoro displays that he's started to notice things about Zoro, something that he does not do for others.

Two crucial moments and the slow realization

By the second time we are privy to the events in the crow’s nest, Luffy had experienced two big events that caused a turning point with his development and realization about his feelings: the battle at Whiskey Peak, and the Battle with the Marines. Both of these scenarios forced Luffy to realize that he likes Zoro differently from how he likes his other close friends and family, putting him a step closer to finding out that his feelings may not be entirely platonic. I want to discuss each turning point in great detail because they provide the push Luffy needed to complete his realization, which he will then be reflecting and pondering on in the crow’s nest.

In the battle of Whiskey Peak, Luffy for the first time faces Zoro as an enemy. Luffy has always known that Zoro enjoys his battles, but he also gains another understanding with the way he fights. When the swordsman battles, he gives his utmost focus and attention to his enemy.

After Whiskey Peak he’s almost—he’s almost jealous, of the people Zoro fights.  Not because he wants to fight Zoro, but because Zoro affords all his focus to those he fights, the whole entire strength of him.

Luffy realizes that he likes being given that attention and admits that he is jealous of the people Zoro fights. Even for a small moment, Luffy gets a preview of what it is like to be Zoro’s everything, and he desperately craves that feeling again. Their skirmish ended with Luffy gaining a scar on his bicep that he is fond of because the scar is a proof of Zoro's connection with him, almost like he now as a part of Zoro. Luffy becomes more drawn to his swordsman as he now realizes what it will be like to be his only focus.

He notices that Zoro only shaves once a week, but by day five his stubble is visible and by day six it starts bugging him. … He notices Zoro doesn’t touch him, but he lets Luffy pull him along without much complaint.  So he finds himself yanking Zoro into his space at the dining table or pulling him along across Merry’s deck to show him cool stuff or hugging him one-sidedly like it’s the most natural thing in the world. If he’s really, really lucky, then Zoro will turn to look at him with this smile that he only gives Luffy.  And always, always, when Zoro looks at him with that smile, his eyes soften in a way that fills Luffy up to the brim, so full he can’t breathe.  It’s weird. Luffy likes it.  He likes Zoro in general.

At this point of the story, Luffy is much more deliberate with paying attention to the little details of  Zoro, signifying that he’s now aware of how much his eyes shift to his swordsman. He starts to find small excuses to continuously touch and be around him, realizing that he likes Zoro. Based on what we’ve seen of Luffy so far, it is hard to say he's referring to a romantic “like”, but it is not a stretch to believe that Zoro has gained his interest in a way that other people did not. He clues in that Zoro makes him feel strange, but he likes this feeling that Zoro gives him. Luffy even makes an attempt with sharing this discovery.

I don’t mind,” Luffy tells him, and stuffs his mouth full of a ham hock.  He is so glad they have Sanji on the crew now.  “Zoro can touch me."

The second turning point comes with the battle with the Marines. The fight is well-paced, carrying the right amount of energy with its punch and challenges, portraying that despite the Straw Hats needing to take the fight a little more seriously than usual, they will still be victorious. The fight contained its dangers, but the lighthearted banter and communications within the Straw Hats imply that they will triumph.

It is at the end of the battle, however, that brings Luffy's next development with his feelings for Zoro. Zoro scolds Luffy for his inaction after warning him of an incoming attack. Understanding that Luffy is okay, and that he’s taken more hits than his captain, Zoro softens. Luffy notices that Zoro is giving him his full attention, similar to how he did when they battled in Whiskey Peak. When Zoro clasps the back of Luffy’s head, Luffy starts to have an ecstatic reaction. This is our first look of Luffy's desire for Zoro, something he never had with anyone else.

None of it explains the way Luffy’s body lights up when Zoro clasps the back of his neck, like every nerve is alight and trained on the palm cupping the baby hairs at the back of his skull.  His stomach knots over itself and he wants to eat everything in Sanji’s kitchen.  Zoro’s skin is a little rough and sweaty from fighting and warm. Zoro is close, so close, his forehead nearly butting Luffy’s and Luffy couldn’t move if he wanted to, trapped there by the closeness and the touch that makes him aware of Zoro’s skin against his in a way he’s never been before.  Zoro’s eyes bore into his, digging deep into Luffy and dragging out—something, buried in the base of his spine.  He feels like the earth is tilting, and freefall seems like it might be fun. Luffy licks his lips, his mouth dry and his heartrate frantic.

As the moment between him and Zoro is broken, Luffy wanted Zoro’s attention back. Now aware for his desire for Zoro, Luffy is unable to handle this new turn of events, “…his [Luffy] brain blank and empty with static,” and “feeling weird and off-balance.” Zoro’s attention is now directed to Chopper was patching him up, and Luffy (for the first time) blushes as he takes in the details of Zoro’s back muscles and movements.

Zoro’s bared back faces Luffy, and it suddenly seems—different.  Luffy’s never noticed the way the muscles on Zoro’s back stand out, connect, contract as he moves.  He’s never noticed how his tanned skin seems to glow in the afternoon light, or how his shoulder-blades stand out, framing the divot of his spine. His face feels too warm.  Everything feels too warm.  Luffy tears his gaze away, and finds Sanji staring at him, one curly eyebrow raised.

With Luffy’s two reactions (blushing and the feelings he got when Zoro touched him on the back of his neck), I believe this is the point where Luffy realizes he has a crush on Zoro, even if he still does not understand what that entails. It’s also worth noting that right after Luffy notices his desires , his hunger pangs starts, desperate to fill a gap within himself with food. Even as he lays awake on his bunk at night and fed, he’s having trouble with sleep. I see this as Luffy making an attempt at trying to satiate his feelings of crush for Zoro with food, because he doesn’t know how to go about wanting his swordsman. Luffy’s a bit of a stress eater, and honestly, he’s me fr fr.

It’s no coincidence that he climbs into the crow’s nest the next night, now with a bit more of an understanding of his feelings about the swordsman, but also with many thoughts to ponder over. When he looks over at Zoro and absorbs the details of how the moon has painted Zoro’s features, Luffy reacts the same way he did during the aftermath of the battle with the Marines: blushing and wanting Zoro’s attention. To notice that he’s feeling new things about his swordsman. Wanting to touch him.

And just like what happened after, Luffy once again stops himself from saying what he wants. He tried to share his thoughts with Zoro, but it comes out lacking and not completely what he’s meaning to say. He still has no idea how to go about resolving and sharing how he feels with Zoro.

“Zoro,” Luffy starts.  He hears Zoro move to look over at him, but doesn’t know how to voice what he wants to ask.  He frowns in thought, and Zoro makes a questioning noise. “I like it up here,” Luffy tells him.  It’s not what he wants to say but it’s true regardless.  He looks up at Zoro because Zoro always seems to understand him with just a look, and he thinks he may as well give it a shot now. Zoro’s expression is soft, and he nods.  But there’s no light of understanding or realization in his eyes, and whatever Luffy’s thinking or feeling misses its mark.  That’s okay—it’s not like Luffy knows what he meant in the first place.”

As Luffy understands that he’s gaining non-platonic feelings for Zoro, he’s becomes unsure. Luffy (who throughout this story) has been confident and does not give too much of a thought about his actions, shows hesitation for the first time. He knows he wants Zoro, but he still does not completely understand what a crush means, or how to go about having a crush.

This second crow’s nest scene summarizes Luffy’s current progress on his feelings towards Zoro: aware of his non-platonic feelings, but doesn’t quite know what it is or what he’s going to do with it. The reason he’s been able to come to this conclusion is because of his discoveries both during the fight in Whiskey Peak and the Marines. In fact, I stand to believe that it’s not a coincidence that it’s during battles that Luffy makes these realizations. Zoro is a man of few words, and uses his actions to do the talking, which is fitting, that Luffy starts to fall for him as Zoro shows himself more through his actions.

Action and Conclusion

In the third (and final) time we’re shown in Luffy and Zoro’s moment in the crow’s nest, we reach a culmination of Luffy’s efforts to understanding and addressing how he feels about Zoro. To get to this point, he seeks out the help of Nami as he knows he won't go far trying to figure things out on his own. Nami and Vivi are in a relationship in this story, and Luffy is aware that they’ve kissed and done other romantic actions. This displays Luffy’s observant nature and accurate assessment, making the connection that what he’s feeling for Zoro is likely how Nami feels for Vivi.

Nami explains that she partakes in romantic endeavours with Vivi is that she’s attracted to Vivi, which Luffy does not understand. 

“… but you know how, like, you can look at a person and think they’re pretty or hot but it’s kind of—objective?  Remote?  And how with other people you notice they’re pretty and also you feel like you want to be near them or touch them?” Luffy tilts his head to the side.  “No?” “Hmm,” Nami frowns.  “What about, like, butterflies?  Where you see someone and get kind of nervous and hot because you like them?” Luffy scrunches his nose.  He can’t remember being nervous about…well, anything, ever.

Luffy’s demisexuality comes into the forefront of the story and is a major factor into him not understanding his feelings for Zoro. Being demisexual means that the person can’t be drawn to another solely on their physical appearance, or if they don’t know a person deeply. Prior to meeting Zoro, Luffy has never been nervous about a person, felt the feelings of “butterflies” in his stomach, or the need to touch someone and be near them. It’s curious that Luffy does not think about his reactions to Zoro when Nami was describing attraction, even when he did experience the same feelings. However, there is reason to believe that this is because at this point, Luffy does not connect the dots that his nervousness and uncertainty is linked with his romantic feelings for Zoro. As Nami made Zoro leave the kitchen, allowing for a more private conversation between her and Luffy, he opens to ask his true question: If he wants to kiss Zoro. Luffy explains to Nami that he’s never had the urge to do this with someone before, therefore attributing to his confusion.

“He doesn’t think it makes a lot of sense, since most of Luffy’s explanations have to do with Zoro staring or how it suddenly feels weird to touch his swordsman or how he really, really wants Zoro to touch him.  He tells them he feels—squirmy around Zoro now and it’s not restlessness or hunger or anything else he knows how to deal with, how he wants to say something but he doesn’t know what.” 

It is worth noting here that Luffy is an amateur when attempting to describe how he feels about Zoro. Not only that, but he describes his feelings objectively, as he only talks about the sensations in his body and wanting to do something about it. Luffy has felt happy, excited, and nervous when thinking about Zoro, but he does not describe any of these feelings to Nami. I see this as Luffy not being aware of how his feelings shifts when he is thinking about Zoro. Nami realizes that Luffy works better with action-based learning to resolving his feelings, and tells Luffy to ask Zoro for permission when wanting to do something with him. Luffy is then excited at the prospect of asking Zoro for a hug, because even in his uncertainty, getting an affirmation from the person in question is a direct and definitive way to having an answer.

Luffy decides on the next day that he’s going to ask Zoro for a hug, waiting patiently for him to finish his workout. He homes in on the way Zoro’s body and muscles move.

Zoro squats, and as he squats he exhales through his mouth.  His abs bend and his thighs bulge through the fabric of his trousers.  He rises, and his stomach contracts as he inhales through his nose, his broad chest bulging and his shoulders pinned back under the weight he’s holding.  Luffy follows the line off his shoulders to the swell of his biceps, the tension of his forearms and the firmness of his grip around the barbell. Luffy watches the motion of Zoro’s hips for a moment but it makes a flush of something deep and sharp slide through him, something unexpected.  He imagines Zoro turning around, imagines watching him do this from behind, and he has to look away, imagining the muscles of Zoro’s back move and twitch beneath his skin, his trousers filling with his butt on each squat— Luffy squirms, the first flash of impatience hitting him.  He wants to touch Zoro.  He wants to hug him.  Or something.”

The usually hyperactive and excitable Luffy is still and quiet when observing Zoro because he’s enamoured. He even goes as far as imagining what it would be like for him to stare at Zoro from behind but cuts off his line of thought by thinking of doing something else to distract himself. It took Luffy this long to find Zoro attractive, a feeling that Nami described to him earlier in the kitchen.

Zoro is confused by Luffy at this point because he’s waited two hours to ask a seemingly mundane question, but this shows how important this is to Luffy for him to sit still and wait. He wants Zoro to have his full attention when answering his question, and only with Zoro’s permission did he go for the hug.

“Do hugs make you feel good?” Luffy asks, curious.  He knows Zoro doesn’t like touch like Luffy does, so it would be disappointing but not weird for Zoro to say no. “I—don’t—maybe?” Zoro squirms and it makes Luffy giggle as his muscles move underneath him.  “It’s—fine, I guess.” Luffy leans back in the hug so he can see Zoro’s face.  He’s still sweaty from his workout, and red from the exertion, but he’s scowling hard, his whole face pinched into it.  His glare is fixed on Luffy’s face, firm and unrelenting. Luffy studies him, looking for objection, for discomfort or dislike. He grins.”

Luffy values Zoro’s opinion on the hug because this is a step closer to figuring out the answer to his main question (if he wants to kiss Zoro). He is expectedly happy that Zoro finds no problem with his hug, and he is now able to act on his affections with hugs.  In addition, he tells Zoro to hug him back whenever he wants, showing that Luffy wants Zoro to be open with affection the way he is to Zoro.

As Luffy gets more comfortable with asking Zoro for hugs, he extends to other methods of physical touches like head pats, touches on the arms, putting sunscreen on the back, and holding his hands. Zoro is undoubtedly confused by this new behaviour but continues to indulge with Luffy’s every requests. Luffy notes the strange feelings in his body, his “heart squeezes hard in his chest and freezes the air in his lungs.” He eventually becomes greedy for Zoro’s touches, and asks for more.

His greed reaches a tipping point when he asks Zoro to sit on his lap during a dinner. Zoro’s confusion on Luffy’s behaviour turns into hurt and embarrassment, causing him to storm out of the establishment.

“I don’t get it,” Zoro says after a moment.  He’s staring at Luffy with—wait, what, that looks like—hurt, or embarrassment, or— “Why are you being so weird the last few days?” Luffy frowns.  “I’ve been asking.” “Yeah, and—” Zoro runs his hand through his hair, frustrated.  He glares at nothing, somewhere above their heads, and squeezes the hilt of his white sword.  “Forget this.  Someone should watch the ship.”

While Luffy is confused with the reaction, Zoro’s hurt and embarrassment is not surprising. I’ve held off from talking about Zoro’s point of view so far because we are not privy to much of his thoughts or feelings in comparison to Luffy’s openness and having his heart on his sleeve. However, Zoro’s frustration and pain at this moment quickly clicked with me because of what he’s seen from Luffy's behaviour so far. When Luffy was asking Nami to explain attraction, he was there to witness that conversation and watch Luffy get increasingly confused with Nami’s descriptions. He does not believe that Luffy understood what it was. Coupling this detail with Luffy’s frequent requests for closeness and affection, Zoro concludes that Luffy is doing this out of curiosity, unaware of how the touches made Zoro feel. In a way, he might have felt like his emotions are being played with, even if it was not Luffy’s intention.

With the encouragement of his friends, Luffy would ultimately decide that he doesn’t want to keep betting around the bush with getting an answer to his original question, and moves to go after Zoro to do what he wanted to do since the beginning. It is here that we reach the third (and final!) scene, in the crow’s nest where Luffy and Zoro will confess their feelings.

In the final scenario at the crow’s nest plays differently from the two former events in the crow’s nest, with Luffy now understanding what he wants and intending to share his direct and honest thoughts with Zoro.

He opens with saying “It’s pretty,” but this time, he’s looking at Zoro. He is setting an intention to make Zoro understand that he’s not talking about the stars, but about him. Zoro asks him why he’s been behaving strange the past few days, because Luffy was never the type of person to ask for permission about anything. Luffy’s explanation and build up with his inner turmoil throughout the story is revealed.

“I’ve never liked someone the way, like, Nami likes Vivi or Usopp likes Kaya.  I thought I didn’t get like that and I didn’t really care.  Except you…” “….And I started thinking about—how the way I like you feels different, how I notice things about you I don’t notice for anyone else, like the way you have nice hands or how you always clean your swords a certain way or when you like to shave, and I—“ Luffy scowls, because the words are kind of hard to say suddenly, “My favorite scar is the one you gave me, and sometimes I want to bite you so we match.”  “…So like, then I realized that I want you to look at me all the time, because no one looks at me like you do, and I want you to touch me all the time, because it feels different and good and stuff when you touch me.  It’s fun and I like it, and I want to touch you lots.” … (He really, really hopes that’s what Zoro wants too.) … (Oh—huh.  What if it’s not?) “…Nami said I should practice if I wasn’t sure what I wanted, and I did, so now I know what I want,” Luffy says, determined now that he’s said this much—the adrenaline in his veins feels a lot like nerves and he wants to laugh at his older self for scoffing at the idea.  Maybe Luffy’s laying his heart bare too, without even realizing it.  He flushes, looks Zoro in the eye, and smiles as big as he can.”

As a demisexual, Luffy does not start to develop feelings for a person unless he has a deep connection with them first. He may have many friends who he considers precious, but he’s been around Zoro the longest at this point of his journey to becoming a pirate king. He also matches with him in many aspects, operating from similar wavelengths and capable of having wordless conversations because they just understand each other that deeply. Luffy’s attraction to Zoro needed to take a long period of build up and slow realizations, perfectly timed and crafted by the author as they guide the readers from the start to the realization, and to the conclusion of Luffy’s romantic development. It started from the small observations, following by the realization that he wants Zoro differently that came much later after he’d gone through two major moments that recontextualized the way he sees Zoro.

Because Luffy is unsure about what to do with his romantic affections, he takes Nami’s suggestions to heart. Since Luffy has no previous understanding of romance or romantic gestures, he hesitates on what to do next. He’s only newly come to terms with his romantic feelings, therefore he struggles with asking Zoro for a kiss or how to initiate it.

As Luffy was about to ask Zoro for a kiss, his mouth is covered by his swordsman’s hand. It’s ironic how Luffy was told to ask permission when he’s unsure, and by asking for a kiss, he displays that he’s doubting himself as he asks for the kiss. Zoro doesn’t allow him to complete his question, showing Luffy that he does not need to doubt himself any longer. Putting a hand on the back of his neck, he captures his lips, and the moment reaches its eventual climax.

“Captain doesn’t need to ask me,” Zoro repeats, his voice rough and low and his breathing is ragged too.  “Captain should just take what he wants.”

When it comes to romance, Luffy started out not knowing of the feeling or how to deal with it, needing the guidance from his friends and explicit permission from Zoro to progress and do what he thinks is right. Romance is not an easy feeling to navigate, and it’s normal to feel the uncertainty and nervousness of the pressure to make it "feel right" when sharing your feelings and handling the overwhelming desires that comes from them.

Luffy was able to arrive to his answer and find the courage to share them, undoubtedly from the help of his friends, but also because he’s had plenty of time to reflect and sit with what he’s feeling and experiencing.

Found in the Crack of your Palm is a story about the slow yet steady build up of eventual romance and feeling it for the first time. The journey to the romance was eventful, but all it took was having the turning points to open the floodgates of the dormant feelings that was eager to be noticed. The moment can be as small as finding and feeling a scar on your bicep, a crack in your palm that opened the eyes to the realization that you’ve been wanting a certain someone to be a part of you as long as they can and forever if the stars allow for so. It’s the feeling of wanting to hold another person’s cracked palms and hands into your own as you take on the world together for all the challenges and joys that you both are about to experience, together.

[enhashoutout]

Plot Holes in High and Low We Need to Discuss

@tiredlittlewriter always gassing me up 🤭🫶🏼 @cheshirecatuniverse @mrskenpachizaraki @books-n-guns

Thank you so much everyone tagged for staying up and talking about the movies with me last night😂❤

Trigger warnings before you start reading, this ramble posts contains spoilers for the movies, cuss words, mentions of character d3aths, mention of SA that happens to a character, and other violence and cr!me associated with the H&L franchise. Please don't read if you do not want to see any of these.

Anywaysssas as you can tell by the title of this post and this screenshot, we are talking about plot holes in the High and Low franchise that we need to talk about because they BUG THE SHIT OUT OF ME.

I would like to start by saying that I do love this franchise, it is my everything. It's not like I have anything bad to say about it, I love it as it is, but some of the stuff within the franchise definitely could've been more thought out. It could've been worse! So I am thankful it wasn't bad but there are some things I wish the writing team did a little differently.

Also, I do attribute a lot of the plot holes to 1) the creators not being entirely sure whether or not they would get a green light on more movies, 2) trying to make sure the movies made money (it's a business unfortunately and not just art), and 3) High and Low is a multi-media franchise so some stuff is probably explained in the mangas, TV shows, games, etc. I will contradict myself and discuss this more in detail as we keep going.

These are in no particular order, just what comes to mind first

S.W.O.R.D Era

1)Noboru and Miho's story

I have beef with whoever on the H&L writing team thought that condensing the 2 seasons of Story of S.W.O.R.D into Road to High & Low was a good idea. "It's both seasons condensed into one movie" THAT'S A FUCKIN LIE. So much of what is in the shows is cut out from the movie.

Tell me why I learned here on Tumblr that Noboru actually spent a while in a coma in the hospital after getting body slammed by a Kuryu car? And then Cobra and Yamato had to do the "IF YOU DIE I'M GONNA BE SO MAD AT YOU" speech you always see in Asian dramas to get Noboru to wake up?!

And tell me why I learned from a fanfic on Wattpad that Miho isn't dead?! She literally comes to visit Noboru while he's in the hospital. Road to High & Low frames the situation to make it look like Noboru goes to beat up Miho's SA perpetrators after he finds he d3ad in her apartment. Then when I brought this up a couple weeks ago the Discord besties told me she broke up with him through a letter😭 A LETTER GIRL?! HE WENT THROUGH ALL THAT FOR YOU! IF I WAS YOU I WOULD'VE KEPT HIM. NOBORU. GIVE ME YOUR HAND IN MARRIAGE PLEASE GOOD SIR💍 (I'm completely joking I don't think anyone is entitled to another person's feelings, love, affection, etc. I'm just delusional because I love Noboru and Keita Machida)

Then I learned last night from Discord that Miho needs serious therapy because she was working for Doubt and it was addressed in season 2 of the show. Like HUUUH?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!

I do think the storyline between them as a couple and their stories individually definitely could've been explored and explained more. It was probably explained better in the show than RTH&L but I don't have access to the show so idk... which brings me to my first contradiction!

LDH AND EXILE TRIBE PLEASE MAKE YOUR MEDIA MORE ACCESIBLE GOSH. IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SUB IT THAT'S FINE AT LEAST MAKE IT EASIER TO FIND SO THAT WE CAN GET FAN SUBS OR I CAN JUST WATCH THE RAW FOOTAGE AND PRETEND I KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING. There's so many films like the 2 DTC films, the Mighty Warriors film, the shows, even the manga that a lot of us don't have access to😭 Yes this franchise is multi-media but at least make the media accessible😭

2) Mighty Warriors working with Doubt

In the first and second High & Low movie MW and Doubt work together... AND THAT LITERALLY DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE. Last I checked Mighty Warriors don't fuck with tr@ffickers in general so I don't even know why this happened.

And last I checked, MW rescued Sarah from Doubt so why would they work with Doubt when one of their members was literally a Doubt victim? That just doesn't make sense to me. Like yes the MW tend to just take up whatever whack-ass jobs for money they can get considering they fought with literal children (Oya and Rude Boys. I'm like 99.9% sure the Rude Boys members were all 16-19 and that is the age of children. Smoky might've been 20-22 which is not exactly a child but he's still young compared to the MW who were all mercenaries and in the military before they were musical bandits alluding to the fact they are older) but you would think that people who claim to have a club that is a utopia with music that is supposed to impact people positively and save their lives just like music saved the MW members' lives, they would have more moral and standards than to work with Doubt.... but I digress.

3) The alliance with a foreign mafia

This one I can kind of understand but also can't.

I understand that MW take up whatever job they can to make money. It's said directly multiple times in the movies by a MW member that there is no use doing a job for someone without getting paid so they do a lot of stuff just for the money. I also understand Doubt take whatever job pays them but also benefits their tr@fficking business. Hence why they took this job because not only were they getting paid by Lee who runs the Korean mafia but they could kidnap women in the S.W.O.R.D district which worked in their favor.

What I can't understand though is how this alliance even came to be. Hear me out. MW and Doubt will probably do whatever to get money, but where did the trust come from? Like how did they trust that a foreign mafia of all people would uphold their deal and pay them? Was it because Kohaku was made the front-man/face of the plan? Like did they believe that it would be fine because Kohaku was the one "leading" even though it seemed like Lee was pulling a lot of the strings? DOES KOHAKU EVEN HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO BE PAYING EVERYONE?! I SWEAR EVERY TIME WE SEE HIM THAT MAN IS JUST LAYING ON A SOFA IN A JUNKYARD! WDYM DOUBT AND MIGHTY WARRIORS BELIEVED THIS MAN WAS THE ONE WHO WAS GONNA GIVE THEM MONEY?!

4) Who the fuck are Bulge? And what happened to Kuryu?

In End of Sky, we learn that Bulge are interested in the fight between Doubt, Prison Gang, and White Rascals and would sponsor Prison Gang. That's why the scene where we see Jesse fighting with another prisoner, after he kicks him down the guards tell Jesse that Bulge wants to see him to. This is why Jesse and Prison Gang are released early. When Jesse goes back to Funk Jungle he's asking if Mighty want to join but Ice says that they are gonna focus on promoting Funk Jungle, but like he's a liar they show up at the fight anyways lol.

A the end of Final Mission, the movie closes off with a dramatic shot of Mighty Warriors and a typed out message stating "Hello, everyone. This is Bulge. The takeover plan has begun." We never get an explanation of who they are, what they do, etc. I did learn from Ryu's Wiki Fandom page however that "It is presumed that he and Bulge orchestrated the fall of Kuryu Group. In the music video of the MIghty Warriors' new song "Warriors Anthem", it is revealed that he took over Kuryu as the leader after the events of Final Mission, and having Mighty Warriors occupy the remaining 8 heads of Kuryu."

So who exactly are Bulge? How are they powerful enough to be able to take down all of the original Kuryu members who have been seen as indestructible the whole franchise? Why did they allow Ryu to be the new leader?

After Final Mission, the next media pieces that were released were the DTC show and DTC movie, and then we moved into The Worst era with High&Low: The Worst Episode 0 along with the two Worst movies that followed.

I had made the assumption that around the start of the Worst era the creators probably wanted to integrate more of Jr.Exile into the franchise because of their 1) popularity and 2) new stories. The popularity of Exile members like Hokuto and Kazuma would probably bring in more viewership which does good on the numbers and money side because as I said above, unfortunately this is also a business not just art. The H&L creators probably also needed new stories to follow because they can't keep adding to S.W.O.R.D

Vis said that they think the Mighty Warriors were probably dropped because we haven't seen anything from them since the third movie, but Taiga also brought up how the new Mighty Warriors music video was also dropped right around the time the most recent movie Worst X was released. This probably means they are trying to figure out the story within S.W.O.R.D behind the scenes and it's just taking a while to do the world building. Tired also brought up a good point that considering most of the actors in H&L are also Exile members, they have to also continue their jobs as artists so tours, making music, schedules, etc. are probably also clashing with filming and working on High and Low.

Hopefully that is the case and we see more because I have too many questions and no answers.

5) Wtf happened to Rude Boys, Nameless City, and Nikaido?

If you read my fics, you know that when I write about Nameless City after Smoky's passing, I write about how the Rude Boys, Lala, and Eri go and visit Smoky's grave all the time. About a month ago the besties in the Discord made it known to me that Smoky's gravesite and like 3/4 of Nameless City was completely blown up. I was like 😧when I read those messages because it wasn't even like a head-canon thing I genuinely thought that only a small section of Nameless City was blown up so we were fine BUT APPARENTLY WE AREN'T FINE. So what does this mean for the Nameless City residents?

Did they get government housing to stay in while they got tested for the disease from the pollution? Did the residents get released back into Nameless City after the whole casino project exposure? If they were released back into Nameless City, are they all just cramming into that little 1/4 of Nameless City that wasn't blown up?

What happened to Rude Boys afterwards? Are they all back in Nameless City? Or did they move to a different area? Where would they go though? Little Asia? Did Eri get adopted afterwards? Are they finding ways to make money like how they mined the crystal to get money to rebuild Nameless City? Do they even want to return to Nameless City considering the pollution from the toxic waste was causing the disease that killed their leader?

Wtf happened to Nikaido/Cain? Is he finally happy now that he purged his past? Was purging his past and killing his brother worth it? If Kuryu was overthrown and taken over by Mighty Warriors, what does that mean for Nikaido? Is he working for them? Was purging his past worth anything if he didn't even gain anything from it because MW took over Kuryu? Again, so many questions and no answers😭

6) Give us a more clear timeline

This isn't a plot hole, just something I wish the creators would do is give us a clearer timeline. We're never given any clear timeline of how much time has past between each movie or even how much time is between the S.W.O.R.D and Worst era. I'm always trying to calculate the timeline or everyone's ages based off of the only two characters we get ages for and Noboru's school timeline.

The only two characters in the whole franchise that we get ages for are Chiharu and Seki. At the start of the series we know that Chiharu is 20 because when he joins Sannoh, in the scene at the bar Cobra offers him a drink but takes it back and says "wait but aren't you underaged?" to which Chiharu replies that he is 20 (which is the legal adult age in Japan) and Tettsu makes fun of him for still being in high school as an adult (in good fun of course not in a mean way).

When we first are introduced to Oya, the narrator tells us that Seki is the oldest part-timer student there at age 25.

Noboru, Yamato, and Cobra were high schoolers while Mugen was still active. This is deduced by the scene where Yamato drops Noboru off in front of the school for the day he takes his exam, then when he opens up his college acceptance letter with them. I'm assuming Yamato and Cobra dropped out to be apart of Mugen and take care of their parents' shops. Then, we see when Noboru starts college but doesn't make it super far into his bachelors degree after getting sent to jail. We don't get to see how long he was in jail for, just that he was released early because Kuryu paid to get him out early.

I always use these ages and Noboru's vague school timeline to try and figure out the character's ages and shit but they are just estimates because we never get clear timelines from the creators. Like why couldn't they at least tell us how much time passed between the end of Final Mission and the start of The Worst?!😭anyways.... onto the next thing

The Worst Era (mainly X)

Like I said in the screenshot, The Worst isn't my favorite movie out of the franchise but I think it was the best executed in terms of plot out of all the movies. The plot was clear, very concise, and relatively had no plot holes. (I haven't seen The Worst Episode 0 so if there is something that is missing plot wise please let me know)

It was fun to see the cross with Housen and the themes and messages we got from not only the plot but also from each character were all really good too. It was a solid movie, no complaints.

The Worst X however... I have questions. It's not to say it wasn't good, I still liked it and obviously it was good considering I watched it with no context and it got me into the whole H&L universe, but I feel like it fell a bit short. There was more the writers could've done for not only plot development but character development.

1)How did that 3 school alliance actually even start?

From the movies, it seems like Kohei Amagai is well known as "the annoying son of the Amagai group". Like EVERYONE knows him and knows he throws around money to get people to work for him. And like yeah, we see when he is able to take control of the school with the beige uniforms because Senomon, Kamasaka, and Ebara are quite literally beating the shit out of them, but how did Senomon get Kamasaka and Ebara to cooperate?

I refuse to believe that Amagai was able to get Kamasaka who fight with weapons like brass knuckles and metal rods and Ebara who are all literal gym bros to join his stupid ass plan with just money. As dumb as I think boys are I don't think Reiji, Ghandi, Shoji, Raijin, or Fujin are actually dumb enough to join an alliance for money. Even if this alliance did win and take over Oya, what would they have done with each other afterwards? Those dudes have so much pride we all know that there is NO WAY they would all continue working under Amagai. Amagai is also stupid as hell if he thought he could be at the top without someone from Kamasaka or Ebara trying to overthrow him if he had taken down Oya like Kohei.... be fuckin for real bitch.

I need more of an explanation to this like someone from the H&L writing room please sit down with me and answer my questions so I can publish it in an interview for all of us we need answers.

2) What the fuck is the story behind Todoroki and the dudes from Ebara?

The whole time Fujin and Raijin are running around screaming about how they're gonna crush Todoroki and I literally sit there like

👁️👄👁️Why? No matter how many times I watch the movies because we never get an explanation! Idk was this in the show? Someone please tell me.

And like the scene after Todoroki beats up Fujin and Raijin, Shoji goes "you're different now" and I'm always like "Different? DIFFERENT HOW?! DON'T BE SHY SHARE WITH THE CLASS PLEASE"

Todoroki responds with something along the lines of "now I have friends to protect" which is so wholesome I love that, but what is the detailed history of him and the guys from Ebara? We never get that explained to us. I remember reading somewhere that Todoroki trained hard to beat his bullies and because he got so strong that's why he always tried to fight for the leader position because he believed he could beat Murayama. I also saw a clip on Youtube where when Murayama is fighting with Todoroki, he sees his old self in Todoroki who is being reckless which probably adds to Todoroki's character development.

Did the guys from Ebara bully Todoroki? Were they old friends who fell apart? Did they just have a bad run in when Todoroki was being a little shit and fought but now hold a grudge because they are teenagers with a lot of pride and anger issues and it's not that deep? Idk🤷‍♀️The thing that bugs me is the fact that their feud was added a solid amount to the plot and why Ebara joined then dropped the alliance so I don't know why we didn't get at least a vague explanation of who these characters are to each other.

3) Questions and what I want to see next movie

This obviously isn't plot holes but just some questions I have and what I want to see in the next installments of the franchise.

Why were these high schoolers doing THE FUCKIN MOST to see who was stronger?! The first time I watched I was so confused because why was this movie serious but also so unserious?! They did not need to be doing all that.

Why didn't Amagai get in any trouble for anything?! Is it because he has money?! Like how did this man commit literal crime and everyone was like okei. He literally kidnapped Tsukasa and tortured him for like half a day and 1 night...

How did Tsukasa not die?! The was literally beat over the head with a metal pipe, kidnapped, tied up, tortured, and then dropped from a balcony. I digress, he probably has plot armor as Sun calls it because how did he not die or at least end up in the hospital for a long time.

I want to see the movies circle back to the S.W.O.R.D plotline so it would be really cool if Amagai's little plan was part of a larger plan to break down the peace in S.W.O.R.D. It wouldn't be the first time the adults used kids to push their agenda. Kuryu originally wanted to use Murayama to tear down the peace in S.W.O.R.D because he used to look up to the man who was the head of Iemura but because he chose not to do it, they went after Noboru.

Maybe MW are thriving as the new heads of Kuryu so someone on the outside is trying to take over and Amagai's family is apart of that. Or maybe his family is trying to gain favor from Mighty and are working for them. Idk but it would be cool if we circle back to S.W.O.R.D and see the new Oya characters have to integrate into the S.W.O.R.D world also.

I also want to see a segment of how Rude Boys and Oya adjust to their new leaders.

I want to see what happened to the rest of S.W.O.R.D after the third movie. We saw Oya in The Worst era but what happened to everyone else? Which I also know these are probably kind of far fetched considering the Exile Tribe member who played Rocky is retired from the entertainment industry now... but a girl can dream I guess.

You made it to the end! Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to read this big rant. This wasn't proof read and is kind of everywhere but thank you for reading it anyways! ❤️

[fahye]

This is not fanmail, unfortunately, though I do want to say I have read your books and A Restless Truth was so thoroughly delightful it got me back into reading fiction after a rough year for reading. But as a published author with a background in fanfic, what would you say the tells of a writer who got started in fanfic is? I've seen the idea thrown around (usually in a negative sense, but tbh I've liked all the works in question quite a lot) but nobody has ever been able to say what these stylistic tells are, exactly.

Honestly, as a writer who has read a lot of fanfic, it makes me kind of self conscious about my own work, that people will be able to look at it and see the fanfiction in it and look down on me and my work for it, even though I can't see anything wrong with it (like, the concept of books reading like fanfic, because those are still good books) myself. What's the difference between a Proper Book and a Fanfic Book, in those people's minds?

Thank you in advance if you answer this, and sorry to bother you if you choose to just delete this, because this is very much not like the other asks you've been getting. I'll send you a more detailed fanmail about your books some other time haha

this is a fascinating and chewy question and I don't have all the answers to it, but luckily I was on an episode of the excellent @fansplaining podcast a couple of years ago, and they asked it too. we had a really great chat about what we thought some of those stylistic tells were, and some of the optimism we feel about the future of genre fiction being in the hands of fandom people.

here's the link; if you want to read the transcript then you can ctrl-f the words "what makes a story feel like fic?" and that'll take you to the paragraph where that particular discussion kicks off.

I can't answer for the people who will look down on books for being fic-like or look down on writers for being fanficcers, and I don't care to. I'm sure there are people who don't like my books, or me as a writer, for that exact reason. and that's fine! there are people who don't like them because they start slowly, or because my prose style is more intricate and wordy then they prefer, or because of all the graphic gay sex. or because they don't care for the fantasy plot that's getting in the way of all the graphic gay sex.

the best advice I can give you when it comes to that self-consciousness--and it's easier said than done, but it's all I've got--is to just make like elsa and Let It Go. let those people think whatever they're gonna think. you're not writing for them. you're writing for the person out there who will read your stories and go: holy shit, this book feels like the kind of fanfic I love most and that's amazing.

[satancopilotsmytardis]

Hate to start the day doing this, but some reminders for boundaries:

Please do not share with me or on my posts details about your mental health, about your experiences with BDSM, or excessive personal information. We do not know each other, and this is a place to talk about fictional characters. People are welcome to discuss kinks here surrounding Shigadabi because that is what my writing is dedicated to, but please do not share personal information that I haven't asked for or consented to learning about.

Please do not use my blog or stories as a source for education. I am writing about fictionalized settings in which the things depicted will never be fully accurate or true to life. Taking advice from my writing, ESPECIALLY when it comes to entering a BDSM dynamic, can be dangerous for you and your partner(s). Please find actual educational resources to ensure your safety before you proceed. Even when I do talk about my own research, I do not do so with the amount of detail and specificity to be a reliable source of education. If you have sources like this, please do not share them through my blog, as this creates mixed signals about the content that is posted here.

If you are uncomfortable with dark material such as sexual assault, rape, all forms of abuse, physical and mental torture, involuntary body modification, etc., and the possible romanticization of these topics, then it is in your best interest to leave my blog. I do enjoy writing and discussing dark topics because I find them to be interesting avenues for storytelling. When I write a full story, I tag this content appropriately, and I do not owe anyone an explanation over why I choose to engage with these these or justify why they appear in my writing. It's fine if these are topics that you do not want to engage with or that you find morally reprehensible. If that is the case, then leaving/unfollowing/blocking me are all appropriate ways to avoid seeing this kind of content in the future. Anything else, such as belittling myself or others on my posts, sending comments or DMs that ridicule or demand an explanation for my writing of these topics, or messages that convey your disapproval and tell me that you won't be engaging with a story because of a topic, are not appropriate and will have you permanently blocked from my blog. You are welcome to your boundaries and criticism, but I do not have to be a place that hosts it.

Please do not recommend fanfics to me. As I've talked about before, once I'm in deep for a fandom or ship, I stop reading any other writing about the ship. I do this specifically because I don't want to take the ideas, intentionally or unintentionally, from other writers, so I am never going to read a recommendation. I'm so glad that you have other writers and stories that bring you joy, and you should absolutely post about those stories either directly talking to the writer in the form of comments/asks, or create a recommendations list so that you can share that joy with other people as well! But my blog isn't a suitable place for it.

My goal here is to share what I love (kinky Shigadabi fanfic with a heaping dollop of introspection) and hopefully provide some fun for those of you who have chosen to join me! If at any point my content no longer makes you happy or causes you joy to engage with, you owe me absolutely nothing, and you should pursue that joy elsewhere! You will not hurt my feelings for doing so because we don't know each other!

I want to add that, overall, the community that is forming here has been incredibly kind, supportive, and respectful, and that logging on and answering asks or talking about the latest brain worm that's been chewing holes in our heads has been a consistent highlight of my life for many months now. Thank you to all of you who have been making this a joyful place to share kinky Shigadabi content 🩵

[hareofhrair]

How Would YOU Like to Read Fanfic About YOUR OC's? That YOU Didn't Have to Write?!

This glorious fantasy could come true if you hire ME, professional published author Eli Grant, to write for you!

I have more than eight years of experience writing professionally that I want to put to work bringing YOUR ideas to life!

Want nice character profiles for your character select page but don't want to write them? Want to immortalize a really cool scene from a DND game in prose? Have elaborate worldbuilding ideas for your custom setting you want organized into something readable? Have an amazing idea for a fic but don't have the time/energy/skill to write it? I'm your guy!

My rates are $.03 a word.

For reference, a good fic chapter would be about 1500 to 2000 words, so about $45 to $60. A character profile or backstory might be around 300 to 500 words, or $9 to $15. For long works, such as multi chapter fics, I'll write an outline first which is paid for separately.

Work under 1000 words can generally be delivered same-day, or within the week if I'm busy, with allowance for needing to go back and forth with you discussing details. Full chapters may take a week to two weeks depending on my work schedule.

"What if I don't know word count/how long something will be?"

I'll work with you to help you come to a rough estimate of what the word count should be, no worries!

"What if I only have a rough idea/don't know the details?"

Working together with you to come up with ideas is one of my favorite parts of the job! We can hash out most of the details together before I start writing, or if you don't want to work that hard, you can just see what I do with your concept on my own! Planning can be as detailed or as loose as you want it to be.

Things I Will Write:

character backstories

lore bibles

full chapters

multi chapter fics

fanfic of canon characters, including self-insert!

fluff, angst, slice of life, hurt comfort or any other genre!

scripts for fansims or fanventures!

poetry!

basically anything! Ask if you're not sure!

Things I Will Not Write:

Incest

Minor/adult romance*

Hate speech

Fanfic for works I'm not familiar with/interested in (I'm primarily a homestuck person, but feel free to ask about other properties!)

Anything involving a third party's characters unless I've received explicit permission from the third party

Smut/NSFW**

*I'm fine writing about underaged characters in age-appropriate romantic scenarios, ie teens dating or children with crushes, though I will obviously not write NSFW with minors.

**Steamy romance is fine, but I prefer to fade to black before things cross into explicit territory. This is because NSFW is more difficult and time consuming for me. HOWEVER, I am more than capable of writing smut, so if you really want a nsfw scene I'm open to discuss it, with an upcharge and the understanding that it will take longer.

I reserve the right to refuse any work I'm not personally comfortable with. I will fully refund previously paid for work that I've determined I can't complete, and partially refund work the client withdraws after writing has already begun. I prefer to be paid ahead of starting the work, but I'm fine with payment in installments for larger projects. I take paypal and cashapp.

For examples of my work, check out my AO3! I have original works posted there as well as canon fanfic and an ongoing fanventure. Warning for nsfw content.