#Does a fandom for this show even Exist. hello

[demaparbat-hp]

Hiya!! 👋🏼😄 How's it going? Your fashion taste for Zuko in a Modern AU seems to be artsy, or maybe "formal" is the word. That shirt he wore when he gave Sokka romantic song advice looked Versace🧐. Anyway, I was wondering how you came up with it, he always struck me more as the type that didn´t care much about fashion, so I'm curious about other´s opinions and heacanons about it. And do you have any other fashion headcanons for the rest of the GAang? Also, their music tastes. How did you come up with them? Especially Katara's! 😍

Hello! As it happens, I have a lot of Thoughts and Feelings™ about this, so I'm leaving these over here, and the rest of my ramblings down below the cut!

Let us begin with the Gaang, shall we?

SUKI always struck me as that Pretty Girl from the Gym. She is so incredibly fit it isn't even funny. She could kick anyone's ass, and we'd all thank her. She has this casual gym style that somehow always looks glorious on her, as it should! Comfy yet fashionable clothes for a nice workout or a day in town.

Her music tastes are basically any and all power songs from the eighties and nineties. (Eye of the Tiger, anyone?) She also enjoys metal via Toph, and bands like BSB, NSYNC, or Boyz II Men with Katara. My girl has a very eclectic Playlist and we all love her for it.

SOKKA is That Guy™. Loose T-shirts and shorts everywhere he goes, no matter the weather. He's stupidly into fashion but it doesn't show! At all! And everyone teases him about it. His closet is about 90% Cactus Juice merchandise, hence the "it's the quenchiest!" shirt.

His fashion and music tastes are pretty much the same. He loves poetry but isn't really into lyrics. He'll misinterpret just about anything you place in front of him. His Playlist is mostly vibes and tiktok songs he kind of enjoys. He isn't really into music...at least not as much as his sister.

AANG owns exactly one hoodie, one pair of shorts, and one beanie (THE beanie). Oh, and the crocs—don't forget the crocs. Somehow, he's always wearing the exact same outfit. Every. Single. Day. Ancient Gaang lore suggests that the day Aang goes out without his beanie, it's the end of the world.

His Playlist is the poppiest, most bizarre thing ever. Every single song is Happy by Pharrell Williams levels of happy. Yet sometimes, among the bouncy dance-to songs, you'll find the strangest of things... (He does know what Good Day by Twenty One Pilots is about. That's the reason he likes it so much, actually. And it's so weird.)

KATARA is all about sundresses and loose pants. The epitome of comfortable loveliness. Light fabrics in blue shades, careful embroidery, delicate shoes, and little to no accessories—hers is a simple, yet quite adorable, style. She just needs to add more colors to her usual palette...

She is, first and foremost, a Florence + The Machine girl. It's the Dark Goddess of the Sea vibes, to be honest. Florence Welch is her idol and yes, she will fight you about lyrics interpretation, and win. It may not seem like it, but her music tastes are also very varied.

She draws a little from each member of the Gaang, so you'll hear her humming along to Gorillaz (where did you even find out about them, Aang?), The Weeknd (I...don't think this song means what you think it means, Sokka...), and Hozier (Zuko why did you dedicate Talk to me, Zuko WHAT DID YOU MEAN BY THAT).

TOPH...ah, lovely girl. I'll summarise everything about Toph’s fashion sense in two words: comfort and rebellion. Stuffy dresses forced on her by billionaire parents? No thank you! Give her tank tops with loose shirts and short pants. Bandaids shared with Aang, bracelets from Katara, and even piercings she got in tandem with Sokka. Shoes? What even is that?

Something I love about this fandom is our collective agreement that Toph is into the dirtiest, heaviest, most ear-splitting and soul-crushing death metal of all times. Her Playlist is full of the most obscure names to ever exist, and she can and will blast through your walls with the sheer volume of her speaker.

Zuko. ZUKO.

Even in a modern AU my boy must suffer. That being said, I envision Tales from the Couch as—well, exactly what it is: an ATLA modern AU. While there is not a war to fight, and a lot of plot lines are discarded or expanded upon, much about the core story remains the same.

This is my way of saying that Zuko still goes trough his redemption arc, and it reflects on his fashion choices.

The way you described it works perfectly because of one single reason: in this AU, Zuko is an artist. He had to suppress his love for writing and drawing because of his background and the expectations Ozai had for him (taking over the family company), and a very large part of his redemption arc directly affects his relationship with art.

In the Couch equivalent of S1, Zuko has fallen out of Ozai's graces, and is desperate to protect his place in the company and the Kasai household. He's pretending to be someone he isn't and trying to live up to his Father's image of a perfect heir while still being somewhat cut-off financially, and it shows.

He's all about imposing long coats and a semi-formal style, imitating what he knows Azula and Father would respect. He's striking and sharp and dark. But no matter how he dresses or carries himself (that air of cold superiority and arrogance)—it won't help him when he needs it the most.

In S2, Zuko has hit his lowest point. He's officially disinherited and tossed away by his father, and would be out in the streets if it wasn't for Uncle Iroh. He goes from sharp, high-tailored outfits to old second-hand clothes that hang loosely on his frame. He starts smoking and cuts his hair off, forgoing the undercut for the first time in years.

But then...Father accepts him back. When Zuko returns home, it's with respect to his name and a very high position in his father's company. He's finally the perfect Kasai heir, dressed in overly expensive suits and finery, even at home... But Father forbids him from wearing Lu Ten's earring, and Zuko can no longer recognize himself without the familiar glint of gold dancing on his peripheral vision.

When Zuko leaves the Kasai name behind him and goes back to living with Uncle Iroh...he's finally at peace with who he is, and what he wants in this life. The sharp edges aren't gone (they'll always be a part of him, after all), but now they're dulled by looser clothes and softer hairstyles.

He's an artist, and for once in his life, he is determined to pursue his own ambitions. Zuko's outfits may not be designer-made anymore, but he takes what he has and makes himself look like he wants to look, like the person he wants to be.

He doesn't read fashion magazines or keeps up to the latest trends like Azula does. He's just...Zuko. And his newfound confidence makes everything he wears look like it belongs on him.

As for music...well, Ursa raised a literature boy.

He loves lyric-heavy music and natural voices, be they soothing or powerful. Dissecting song meanings and possible interpretations with Katara is one of his favorite parts of the day. They're both very passionate and strong-minded individuals, so it stands to reason that their debates can get quite...heated.

Zuko's Playlist is both incredibly eclectic and somehow very...him. There's a common thread that binds together every song and artist he likes, and he's hilariously unaware of this. To take a look into his Playlist is a higher honor reserved only for those closest to him.

In the wide spectrum of things, it is no wonder that Zuko is, first and foremost, a Hozier man. But though Andrew is his God in all aspects of this life, there's someone else that has had a huge impact on him...

Two someones, actually.

Zuko refuses to tell anyone how he got into Twenty One Pilots, but it's kind of a moot point when the beginning of his obsession is nothing compared to everything that came after. They have just about the right amount of everything that makes Zuko...well, Zuko. The poetic lyrics, the soothing or raging music, the heavy, intensely resonant themes...

Up there, in the second artwork, I placed an album cover behind each period of Zuko's life. The election of these records is intentional, as I feel like their general themes work incredibly well with Zuko's arc and growth.

Blurryface in S1. For the demons within us. For giving a name to our fears and shame.

Trench in S2. For escaping the confined walls of a depression city, and fighting to understand the depths of the map of your mind.

Scaled and Icy in the first half of S3. For returning to places you had left behind. For convincing yourself and everyone around you that you're fine, that you're perfect, even though everything is crumbling inside...

Clancy in S3. For recognizing that you can backslide, that you can have fears and shame and pain—but you're shaping yourself with each step you take. For knowing that seeking help from others is okay. Nobody learns to walk on their own.

(And, in the end, you'll always be better than the person you were yesterday. If only because you're still here. You're still alive. You're still yourself.)

.

Overall, I rambled a bit too much, don't you think?

If you made it all the way down here—thank you so much for reaching out and being interested in this crazy AU! I hope you enjoy these ideas and tell me some of your own ❤️

[scoobydoodean]

Hello<3

I was wondering if you had any thoughts on how fandom misconstrues Dean's relationship with alcohol?

There is so much emphasis on making him out to be a violent mean drunk, but I mostly remember that he drinks and like passes out when he's grieving or stressed (iirc) (s6 PTSD, Soulless sam, when Cas dies, etc.)? It's weird to me because Dean isn't the only character to go through this. Bobby relies on drinking too. He's exactly as gruff as Dean can be. He also had an abusive father. Yet I don't usually see people judging Bobby for that (if they exist, I haven't seen them at least thank God).

I get frustrated when people say things like the MoC was a direct metaphor for alcoholism just because it made Dean sooo violent and angry, etc. And, it's like an unrealistic understanding of alcoholism irl and also of Dean himself and his actual actions and context. I just get weirdly defensive of him over it lol.

If you've already hashed this out I'm sry! At the end of the day, it's all just interpretation ig, but I wanted to know your take on it cause ik you'd look at dean with a good faith lens.

<3

One could say I have had thoughts on how fandom misconstrues Dean's relationship with alcohol. One could even say I have spawned extremely funny multi-day fandom-wide disk horses on this subject simply by giving my opinion on my own blog when an anon asked me to.

I'm tracking Dean's relationship with alcohol (and other substances bc I was too lazy to make two separate tags) through #dean and drugs during my rewatch if you care to peruse, but I think you and I are of a similar mind on this.

Prior to season 4, Dean has a very average relationship with alcohol. In season 4, Dean starts using alcohol as a coping tool to help him fall asleep because he's having nightmares about hell. By season 6, alcohol is also a coping tool for depression and stress. He drinks to deal with nightmares, he drinks to cope with hell trauma, he drinks after soulless Sam watches his sexual assault with a smile, he drinks after Cas swallows all the souls and Death blames Dean for everything, he drinks throughout season 7 to cope with Cas's death and Bobby's death. I'm up to 8.01 and have yet to see a single occasion where Dean drinking and Dean being violent co-occurred. What I do see is Dean drinking when he is sad, alone, or scared.

I'll continue tracking—I'll eventually get back into the MoC arc where Dean is drinking heavily again, and obviously Dean + drinking + anger + violence are all going to happen at the same time in MoC seasons. However, correlation does not equal causation, and while someone can choose to believe that Dean's drinking causes him to be angry, I think the literal answer in season 9/10 is that Dean's been cursed by the father of murder, and on a more metaphorical level, the Mark of Cain quite overtly represents Dean's resentment toward Sam which Carver spends his entire run laying out in great detail. This is why the whole Carver run culminates in Amara (a Dean parallel) being unleashed to take revenge on her brother, and why the MoC is a brother murderer curse to begin with. Alcohol is set dressing. It shows us—just as it did in the past—that Dean feels sad, alone, and scared (in this case, of what the MoC could lead him to do—which also isn't dissimilar from the original reason Dean started drinking—after hell to cope with the trauma of not just being tortured but torturing others—the fear that he'd been made into a monster).

Looking at the matter holistically, I don't personally see Dean as an angry drunk. I see him as a sad drunk. If anything, I think he hopes that alcohol will drown his anger and violent urges in the MoC arc, or at least slow him down, while also being the traditional tool he uses during boughts of depression (which he is very much experiencing during the MoC arc to the point of suicide). I also think outside the outlier of season 9/10, the narrative supports sad drunk Dean far better than angry drunk Dean.

[farlynthordens]

Pillowfort vs Wafrn Comparison

hello to fellow tumblypoos who may be on the lookout for places to migrate in case tumblr does implode one day but don't know what the alternatives are like. i made accounts on 2 frequently mentioned tumblr clones, pillowfort and wafrn, and tested them as of April 2025. i hope this can be helpful!

SIGNING UP

Pillowfort: sign up free and be put on a waitlist, or pay $5 for instant access. The waitlist time was very short for me. Once you have your account, you get 50 invite links per week that you can send to others for instant signup access.

Wafrn: mods review every signup, but i still got access within a couple hours.

VIBES

Just my own personal observations from a very short period of use

Pillowfort: has a more "cozy and quiet" fandom and media-sharing vibe. it emphasizes using communities when you sign up (but you don't have to join any if you don't want to). most communities that currently exist are either super huge general ones (ex: "Anime") or tiny ones people made for their own friend group but i see potential for fandom-specific spaces to grow.

Wafrn: more unabashedly queer and chaotic (positive) like if you were in a discord server but on tumblr. it's more techy and text post/chatting focused but still has huge media-sharing capabilities. you can host your own server if you know how to. it's recommended you connect your acct to bsky if you want more fandom stuff (or consider a fandom-oriented server elsewhere, tho from what i can tell those don't have a lot of users yet)

MEDIA

Both do not allow multi-select, meaning that you have to upload files one at a time. both allow putting a shitload of images in one post (i didn't even have the patience to upload enough pics to find the limits). but i recommend against mass uploading media. those are individual ppl hosting those servers. consider paying them if you plan to upload a lot.

Pillowfort: only images/gifs, videos must be hosted externally. files must each be less than 2MB. adding additional images is a little janky and sometimes the buttons pop in/out.

Wafrn: video and images/gifs. not sure what the exact file size limit is, but i was able to upload a video that was 145MB so its decently big. media is horizontally scrolled rather than vertically stacked. also note: alt text is required by default, and the "post" button will disappear if any media is missing it.

POSTS

Pillowfort: allows turning off reblogs and comments. you can edit this at any time. seemingly no feature/option to truncate long posts you see on your dash? but i haven't come across any super long posts so maybe it's there. but there is a "read more" feature.

Wafrn: you can turn off notifications for a post, but there is no option to turn off reblogs/comments which i personally find to be a big downside. posts longer than a few sentences automatically get truncated.

LIKES, REBLOGS, COMMENTS, TAGS

Both platforms have likes, comments, reblog systems, and tagging.

Both platforms don't have a page to find all of your Likes. Likes are persistent, and you'll see the colored heart icon if something you liked before crosses your dash, but there is no dedicated Likes page from what i could find.

Reblogging works different on Wafrn, where you have 3 options: rewoot (=quick reblog with no tags), reply (=standard reblog where you have the OPTION to add your own reply and/or tags), and quote (seems to be similar to doing a quote tweet, can also add tags).

If you connect Wafrn to bsky, you can see more posts from there within the site but certain types of interactions don't work.

On Pillowfort, tagging works basically the same as it does on tumblr (can search tags site-wide or on your particular blog). on Wafrn you can currently only do site-wide tag searching, so you're not able to organize your blog if you're into that.

NSFW

Both sites allow NSFW content.

Pillowfort: new post > select checkbox to mark as NSFW (so users with "Show NSFW posts by default" turned off will see the post blurred)

Wafrn: new post > upload media, and then you can mark individual media as NSFW to blur it. Also a content warning checkbox you can select to add in cw tags (must write the tags yourself which leaves room for user inconsistency. there is no preset cw list yet)

DRAFTS, QUEUE

Pillowfort: has a draft, queue, and scheduling system. your queue schedule is editable from settings or the queue page. the queue and draft pages are underneath "Posts", but only show up when there are things in them.

Wafrn: no draft or queue system.

POST VISIBILITY

Pillowfort: in every new post, you can select if the post is public, only for logged in users, only mutuals, or private (only you). you can edit this at any time.

Wafrn: in every new post, you can select if the post is public, only for your followers, only for your server instance, or private (only you). this is not editable once a post is made

BLOG VISIBILITY

Pillowfort: in settings, you can turn on concealed mode which prevents people you're not following from following you or even viewing your blog.

Wafrn: there doesn't seem to be a way to hide your blog profile from certain users/logged out users, but you can change your default post visibility.

ASKS

Pillowfort: Does not have an Ask system, only DMs. Creating an ask system is on their to-do list.

Wafrn: has an Ask system that accepts messages from Wafrn users, logged out anons, or even other fediverse sites (there's a explanation how to do this if you go to someone's profile and try sending a message). you must go to settings to enable anon asks.

FOLLOWING

Pillowfort: by default, anyone can follow anyone. in settings, you can turn on concealed mode which prevents people you're not following from following you or even viewing your blog.

Wafrn: by default, anyone can follow anyone. in settings, you can turn on the ability to review all follow requests.

CUSTOMIZATION

Pillowfort: Dark and light mode for the whole site. blog editing is pretty basic, just changing colors of some page elements (with a little jank). in settings, you can upload multiple icons which you can swap between when making new posts. there are a bunch of pfp frames and badges.

Wafrn: Dark and light mode, plus many other preset themes. blog page editing allows for header images and custom css. you can have emojis (including animated ones) in your name.

MISC

Mobile: both have a mobile app, but Wafrn's is still a bit more experimental. both contain many bugs but when has that not been the case for tungle dot com either

Paid features: Both are free*. Wafrn has no paid features but dev has a patreon/kofi you can support to pay for servers costs. Pillowfort has options for paid icons or frames, higher file size limits (2MB->4MB), or doing a recurring monthly donation to pay server costs and seems to really need the help.

Sideblog support: neither has this yet but both seem to be exploring options for it. you cannot make more than 1 account with the same email.

Blacklist/blocking: both support blacklisting words/phrases and blocking users. Wafrn also supports muting (soft blocking), Pillowfort does not but it's on their to-do list.

Languages: both are only in english

Bugs and future updates: If you want to read more about what features each platform is working on you can check Pillowfort's staff post and Wafrn's github

--------

conclusion: no matter where you choose to migrate to, nothing will be exactly the same as tumblr and will certainly never reach its scale/longevity without consistent user support.

if we want the next gen of the internet to be free of advertising and selling user data, then we will all need to chip in for it. either you pay for your own server to host yourself/others, or you support the people/orgs hosting servers for the rest of us to make sure that the things you love can remain online. i HIGHLY recommend that if you move to any of these places, you consider doing recurring donations. this goes for not just pillowfort and wafrn, but mastodon, neocities, or any other fedi or independently hosted spaces.

fedi sites have a lot of potential, because you can theoretically CREATE a massive social network via connecting lots of little ones together. but interconnecting independent sites is still something that's very buggy and needs working out, and from what i can tell, just because sites are part of the fediverse does not make them instantly compatible/crosspost-able (ppl more experienced can correct me on this)

[madamefeu]

Hi! Here’s what your favorite Hazbin Hotel ship says about you!

Radiodust: You're an old-timer who's been around since the pilot. One off-handed joke about Angel Dust wanting to suck Alastor's dick was all it took for you to start shipping them. You always ship the two most attractive male characters together in your fandoms, even if they have no real connection

Huskerdust: I’m not going to touch this one because I’ll probably get death threats if I don’t tell the Huskerdust fandom exactly what they want to hear

Radiorose: Hello, aro-ace community! You love this because they're the closet thing to a canon queerplatonic couple that currently exists in mainstream media, and as a fellow aro-ace, I’m in the exact same boat

Chaggie: You like the idea of forbidden love, but you're not interested in handling all of the social/political ramifications of it, and would prefer to conveniently gloss over both of those things just like in the show. This ship has the flavor profile of vanilla ice cream with chocolate chips, and so does your personality

Lucifer/Lilith: You only want one thing in this life, and that is for a powerful woman to step on your neck. You are a bottom to end all bottoms

Radioapple: Daddy kink, but in a voyeuristic way. You like watching two dads doing each other, but there is no way you’d ever let them touch you, no, all you want is to watch them go at it

Rosiemilla: Mommy kink, but in a voyeuristic way

Radiohusk: Oh, you would let a man do unspeakable things to you if he was hot enough. You read dark romances and you want a dark romance to happen to you in real life

Cherrisnake: You are absolutely terrible at handling your feelings for everyone you've ever crushed on, and will try to convince yourself that you hate the object of your affections because you lack the courage needed to make a move on them. It would take a life or death situation for you to tell your crush how you really feel about them, and even then you'd be more afraid of telling them than of dying

Guitarspear: Hello, Adam simps! You binge-read workplace romances and you fantasise about dating your boss even though he's a dick 90% of the time. Strangely, the fact that he's a dick makes you even more attracted to him

Staticmoth: Your ideal ship is two horrible people who deserve each other. You want what they have, but at the same time you don't

Zestmilla: Your preferred aesthetic is old married couple core, and I respect that. You binge-read found family fics on AO3, and your favorite tag is hurt/comfort

Radiostatic: You love the idea of someone being obsessed with you when you have no interest in them. You like to laugh at their, quite frankly, pathetic attempts to get you to notice them, and you're waiting for the day when the penny will drop and they'll realise that they are nothing to you, and never will be

Arackpentious: You have never cared about canon, and you don't intend to start now. You probably simp for Sir Pentious and use Arackniss as a self-insert. We know barely any canon information about him, so it's easy for you to project yourself onto him so that you can get doubly-dicked down by the Victorian snake man

Charlastor: You're all about the aesthetic. You got into this ship because there's an abundance of gorgeous fanart for it, even if there's no chance of them being together in canon. You don't care about that, however, because they look beautiful together and that's all that matters to you

Radiomimzy: You wish that the old canon of Mimzy being Alastor's girlfriend was still canon

Royalhalo: You hate Vaggie and you think that Charlie deserves better than her, and who better than the sugary sweet angel who was the first to hear Charlie out and argue in her favor when she found out the truth about the exterminations?

Cherridust: You are aggressively heterosexual and you believe that it is impossible for a man and a woman to be friends without one or both secretly harboring feelings for the other. You binge-read friends to lovers fics on Wattpad, and if a man so much as says hi to a woman, you will ship them

Cherrimoth: You like enemies to lovers, but in a bitch eating crackers kind of way. You either have a crush on someone that you love to hate from afar, or you want to fall in love with someone who hates you from afar

[tellmegoodbye]

Hello lovely people, and welcome back to my monthly rec lists. You know the drill by now!

Sorry it took me a few extra days to put this together, but I'm so excited to share some of my favorite fics from this month! There were also a few fics I wanted to read and didn't get the chance to, so hopefully you'll see those in the April list.

---

Oneshots

Cataclysm - @heartstringsduet

So much to say about this one! Michelle has truly created a masterpiece here. If you're thinking it's just another pwp, it's so much more than that. This is a fic about love, about how TK and Carlos love each other in the most vulnerable ways. It's so poetic in the way it describes every emotion and sensation, it takes great care with these characters, and it so beautifully written that it will probably make you cry. I don't think I've read a fic that describes love in its rawest forms better than this one. So yeah, it's not just sex. It's a love letter. And it's a gorgeous fic.

Telling You Anyway - @goodways

This fic requires tissues. Anything surrounding the Soulmates Scene™ is already going to make me an emotional wreck, so when you add Shannon's incredible writing on top of that I never stood a chance! The writing here is absolutely beautiful, and this 4x16 coda perfectly balances emotion and TK and Carlos being so in love that it hurts. The ending was especially heartwrenching...but the tears are worth the read because this fic will make you feel just as overwhelmed as the original soulmates scene did.

When You're Here, You're Family - @lemonlyman-dotcom

I love the beautiful chaos of this found family so much! I thought this fic was so sweet and funny. It involves sentimental wedding gifts, as well as a bit of a gift card mishap. I think it is now an official fandom HC that Marjan would love a restaurant enough that all of her friends unknowingly give her the same gift card. Also, it took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that the title is the Olive Garden slogan. I was just watching tv today and an ad came on for Olive Garden, and I went "wait, that's Lemon's fic!"

In The Garden Of Evil, Honey - @mikibwrites

Y'all.....this fic was so good! The universe is so carefully and thoughtfully crafted for the length of this fic, and I was instantly pulled in. I love the dynamic of TK and Carlos being hunters and working together while also protecting each other. It's so fun, and also intense too. The end had me holding my breath! No spoilers, but this fic is definitely worth a read even if you're like me and not typically into these type of AUs.

Meetings And Partings - @paperstorm

God, this fic is incredible. It might be a tough read, but it's absolutely worth it. It's bittersweet, dealing both with the loss of Owen, and with the strength of the love that still exists between everyone else even after so much time has passed. He brought them all together and now they get to come together and celebrate that, and him. It's sad at times, but also beautiful! I also love getting to explore all of the possibilities regarding what all of their futures might look like, and I definitely enjoyed Andie's take on that here.

Everything You Pray For - @theghostofashton

I always love fics that focus more on the beautiful friendships in this show. Carlos and Marjan can relate to each other in so many ways, and while the show itself focused more on the overall group dynamics, I love when fics expand on that and touch on the ways individual characters can see and understand each other. I just think it's so wonderful that we still have so much more to explore with all of the potential this show left us with, and this fic does an excellent job at exploring the dynamic between Marjan and Carlos when it comes to their upbringings and relationships with their parents.

Snowed In - @chicgeekgirl89

Some good ole sick fic in beautiful, snowy Colorado, with some absolutely precious Jonah moments and lovely hurt/comfort all around! Despite the fact that Carlos is sick in this one, this fic feels like a warm hug on a cold winter's evening. I love how TK doesn’t do anything halfway, especially when it comes to worrying and taking care of his husband! I also love how Jonah is written here. He's a kid who's curious and perceptive, and he clearly takes after both TK and Carlos in many ways. This is a wonderful read if you're looking for some TK, Carlos and Jonah vibes as well as TK and Carlos getting their alone time in, even in less than ideal circumstances.

The One Where The Dogist Meets Buttercup - @firstprince-history-huh

This fic is so fun! Diti takes such a cool concept and turns it into something beautiful here with the idea of Owen and Buttercup meeting a stranger and Owen telling them their story. It's so sweet, and I love to think about all of the adventures Owen and Buttercup would be getting up to back up in New York.

Absolutely Wrecks People - @heartstringsduet

This was more than a fic to me. Michelle has gifted us with magic once again, and while reading this, I thought a lot about my own experiences with depression and felt a connection to TK as a character that I never had before now. And isn't that the beauty of fic? I feel more than just sad for the angst surrounding TK in this fic, I feel seen. I feel relief in having the privilege to read such a gorgeously written fic that details some of the more grueling aspects of our mental health in ways that I'm sure many of us can relate to. It's certainly a rough one, and not one for everyone, but this fic is something that is so raw, and so reflective, that it's worth sitting down and letting that wave of emotions crash over you.

Holding On To Your Final Breath - @morganaspendragonss

The angst in this one is not for the faint of heart! It's so achingly beautiful to think about a universe where TK and Carlos were together during push, and maybe it was necessary for them to be apart in order for TK to fight his way back. In this fic, the result is devestating, so I definitely warn you that this fic will give you a damn good cry if that's what you're looking for.

Chaptered Fics

Wild Pitch - @ironheartwriter

I'm loving this fic so far! The enemies to lovers dynamic is a classic, but Lana does such a good job at making that tension so tangible between TK and Carlos. You can practically feel the anger and (mostly sexual) frustration in every interaction! I also love this universe with them being roomates, and I love the teasing in TK and Mateo's friendship, too. It's still early on, but I can't wait to read more of this story!

This fic is currently ongoing.

I'm Way Too Good At Bad Decisions - @emsprovisions

This fic sucked me in right from the start! It has the charm and intrigue of an alternative meeting AU while also maintaining the awkward (and hot) hookups that we all know and love with Tarlos. They don't know what they're doing, but they know they can't stay away from each other. They're confused and down bad all at once and that makes me even more excited to see where this fic goes from here! I also love this art by @heartstringsduet because I am obsessed with their spring break atttire!

This fic is currently ongoing.

The Sounds Of Summer - @everlastingday

I absolutely adored this AU idea from the first moment Bee mentioned it, and now after having read the first chapter, I'm even more excited about this fic! I love the bickering between TK and Carlos, and y'all know the one thing I love more than a good, classic enemies to lovers fic is a music AU! The world of orchestra is so fascinating to me, and now even more so! I already feel like I've been sucked into this world, and now I want to learn even more about the ins and outs of orchestra, and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing where this story goes!

This fic is currently ongoing.

Living On A Fault Line - @strandnreyes

If you're craving some solid angst, I definitely recommend checking this fic out! It's a very rough and realistic glance at how a serious injury would affect Carlos' mental health, as well as his relationship with TK. It also touches on the fear brought on by not knowing exactly when or how the healing process will go. Reading this fic actually reminds me a lot of another fic Jen wrote, Come What May, I'll Still Stay, which is another fic that does such a good job at showing the darker side of leaning too heavily on the job and the toll that takes on TK and Carlos.

This fic is currently ongoing.

The Lone Ranger - @rangersoup

Returning from the February rec list: This just keeps getting better! I am deeply intrenched in this mystery of who is going after Carlos, and it's also unique in that we get to explore all of this from Sam's perspective. It's equal parts angsty and mysterious, and the writing is so good! I feel even more immersed in this universe with every chapter. I can't wait to see where this one goes!

This fic is currently ongoing.

The Widow's Bite - @henrygrass

Returning from the February rec list: This fic is absolutely brilliant. There's really no better word to use for it. The writing is stunning, especially during certain scenes that were so immersive and overwhelming, and so beautifully captured that I had to stop reading to catch my breath at times. This is such a fantastic balance of angst, whump, mystery, and joy. It explores new relationships, old cases, and everything that comes with adjusting to a new family in more ways than one, all in less than ideal circumstances. I don't want to reveal too many spoilers here, so all I will say is that if you want to have your breath stolen away the same way I did, then you need to read this fic.

This fic is now complete.

You're Still The One - @strandnreyes

Returning from the February rec list: I loved this fic! It's such a lovely rendition of a Sweet Home Alabama style AU, with a story that Jen made into her own. That made for a lot of lovely surprises, even though this movie is a classic favorite of mine. If you love exes to lovers, small town AUs, and some good old-fashioned oblivious boys realizing they're still in love, run don't walk and go read this fic!

This fic is now complete.

Somewhere In A Song - @paperstorm

Returning from the February rec list: By now I think everyone knows how much I am obsessed with this AU, but it deserves repeating! Sure, I'm a sucker for any music AUs, but this fic pulled me into such a fascinating world with carefully chosen lyrics, emotional moments both on and off statge, and everything even down to the styles of music and the interactions with the crowd was an absolute blast for me to analyze after every chapter. Andie clearly put a lot of love into this fic, and it shows!

This fic is now complete.

[gazstations]

We'll Meet Again

ᯓᡣ𐭩 SUMMARY

You tackle your emotions regarding grief after you lose someone you love dearly.

FANDOM: Call of Duty 

PAIRINGS: John MacTavish x reader

WORD COUNT: 2,166 words

WARNINGS: Mentions of main character death, spoilers for MW3, grief central, no defined happy ending??? No use of y/n

◇ Notes: I have been writing fanfic for over 11 years, and I am terrified to post this y'all. I have never written for the COD fandom, and I am going to combust. Y'all absolutely slay me with your writing. If this post is seen, hello guys. I am going to retreat into a hole now.

This is just a dabble and release of some intense emotions I've had using our favorite Scot.

○●○ NAVIGATION MASTERLIST

♡◇♡◇♡◇♡◇♡

THE AFTERMATH OF LOSS WAS THE STAGE PEOPLE NEVER WANT TO ADDRESS. Perhaps for a valid reason. Every simplicity of life becomes a breeding ground for perpetual sadness. And with it comes the realization that a part of your life is now lived through foggy memory as you try to grasp every detail before it’s inevitably whisked away. It’s the pleading to remember, even just a small fraction. That’s the most heart-wrenching feeling. 

Grief is usually defined solely by the main events–the actual loss and then the funeral. Closure is important; the act of moving on and accepting what has happened. Though, the lull of stagnancy is the stage after that threatens all the acceptance you think you’ve managed. A morning cup of coffee becomes a quiet sobbing fest at the kitchen table. Your favorite song is now the bane of your existence. Certain scents linger about and grip at your heartstrings until your muscle is nothing more than shredded material. The dullness is worse than the initial grief because that’s when you know there’s a void that once was whole.

That cup of coffee becomes the bitter reminder of all the times you sat at the same table, but you weren’t alone. The seat across the way was taken over by a mass of flesh and bone–a lively beautiful thing. Now, that seat remains forever pushed against the table, weeping with the lack of use. 

You can no longer hear the chords of a sweet melody sing from the radio because the lyrics hit too close to home. Because when you claimed that song, you thought of someone else. It captured their essence and everything whole–almost like it was perfectly crafted for the both of you to whisper well into your years of life. 

The scents are the worst part because those can show up completely unexpectedly. It can be anything–the cologne, the laundry detergent, or the shampoo and conditioner–that attacks you. But you can’t bring yourself to throw any of it away because it feels like you’re erasing something that should never know what it’s like to be forgotten. So the clothes lying in a heap on the bedroom floor remain untouched to not disturb their authenticity. The cologne sits on the corner of the dresser, the liquid inside never going down. The shampoo and conditioner sit on the shelf in the shower as if the plastic tubing will be squeezed by its rightful owner. 

And the thing about life is it does not wait for you to bounce back. You must set aside your grief to contribute to the wider universe even when all you want to do is set yourself ablaze until you feel absolutely nothing. If you could burn out the parts of you that cave under the pressure of insurmountable agony, you would. You don’t want to be burdened by a wave of sympathy for a world that didn’t stop for you; a world that took selfishly from your puny hands simply because it could.

And yet, like a lost child, you come out into the world again because now you must find a space to fill the void that now resides in you. You never learn your lesson because even if you try to sever all ties with this existence, you crawl back naively. Thinking that this time when you give your soul out, you won’t be hurt. It’s an endless cycle, and you’re the only one crushed in the end. 

It had been a week since your love died in the winter freeze. And since then, you felt stuck in limbo. Wake up, remember, drown, sleep. Wake up, remember, drown, sleep. Over and over. The buds of life can’t be planted again, not when the seed was made to be harvested by calloused hands that remain no longer.

John MacTavish filled your world with the golden light that caressed your skin. He was everywhere. Because that’s who he crafted himself to be. He burrowed his essence into your life because to him, he deserved to be there. And he did. His body was crafted by the same petal that made you. Your flowers bloomed on your own branches, but together, you created an existence that could be marveled at. 

He lived his life with an infectious purpose. Johnny did not do things in halves. When he stitched himself to your side, he did so wanting and knowing that one he was there he would now have to stay forever. When you so lovingly joked that you could break up with him, he proved why that would never be an option. 

He knew you would be devastated to live without him. 

So it was almost cruel irony that all that intent to stay soon led to the departure. But perhaps Johnny did that with a purpose as well. For a man who was so adamant about existing in your world, he sure was eager to leave. Or maybe that was the bitter part of your heart that wanted to pull on the rubber band until it snapped. Once it snapped, maybe you wouldn’t feel the yearning that burned through every nook and cranny of your body. If you could be bitter, you couldn’t be agonized. Right?

No, bitter people were always agonized. The two went hand in hand. Pain flirted with anger. 

It had been too early to see past your bubble of sorrow, but long enough to know in some way you were numb. Life became a monotonous gray world without your Johnny. This was the outcome he was always so afraid of leaving you in. Some part of him always prepared for that chance. 

You refused it. You spat at the idea. It won’t happen. But you knew it would. Pretty things always got snuffed out once the freeze came. The petals died, the flowers weeped. Until they were ready to bloom once more.

Your spring wouldn’t come. 

Johnny’s team burrowed their way around your ribs. To the world, they were killers, weapons of destruction. To you, they were just men. It was hard to think of them as anything else when you analyzed them through the dull filter of your eyes. 

His captain, John, always had fingers itching towards temporary vices, amber liquid more accustomed to his liver than regular water. He was strong. Had to be when his other boys were busting at the seams. But even he could not stop the natural flow of grief that plagued his body. Years of training to be detached were naught, especially when someone said his name. A flinch, a sorrow, before he schooled his expression. The team adapted to only call him “Cap.”

The other sergeant, Kyle, was the peacemaker. He was a quiet presence, but not for lack of talking. No, he was the reason the house stayed standing. Dishes were done before the thought to do them crossed your mind. He helped you muster the strength to cook, adding small touches that made the flavors pop. He was sassy. He made you laugh even when your heart felt like it was caving in. 

Then there was Simon. The watchdog. He sat by your front window for long hours. Observing. Analyzing. For what? You never knew. But he always was on guard, protective for the occupants in your cottage. You never said anything, just like nobody said anything when you dragged him to the bed you shared with Johnny. You slept better with the heavyweight nearby, and Simon got to protect Johnny’s muse. 

It was difficult not knowing the full detail of Johnny's demise. You were a civilian and would always be on the outside looking in. You could tell the truth danced on the tongues on your new housemates, but they remained tight-lipped. John almost told you once before he shook his head and bid you goodnight. 

Bullet through the head. That's all you knew. Bullet severed all his synapses so quickly, he was gone in the blink of an eye. It should've comforted you. Should’ve offered you some reprieve in your tormented heart. But it didn't.

For some reason, your grief festered then. He didn't even get a chance to fight his way back to you. What would've been the alternative? A man who functioned only half of what he used to be? Would that have been mercy in your eyes? No, it might not have been better just to say he was one of the rare victims that survived a killing shot.

It was after his death that your birthday eventually rolled around. You weren't even sure your housemates knew, so you didn't say anything. The day was like any other. The one time it landed on a weekend, and you wished you were at the monotonous ebb and flow of your job. 

Kyle was gone doing god knows what. He had been gone when you woke up and hadn't returned by noon. Simon was around. He had his tea, disappeared into the home gym Johnny had crafted for himself, took a shower, and then helped John with some paperwork. John, he had been shut inside a room he claimed as his psuedo office all morning. You heard him on the phone at one point, but other than that, it had been quiet. 

You found random things to occupy your time with. As if your melancholia wasn't leaking out into your home. You cleaned, you ate, and you sat outside. But nothing quelled the ache that nested into your chest cavity. Your birthday was a clear-cut tragedy. 

However, you should've figured Johnny would find a way to make sure you were noticed. At one, Kyle returned bearing gifts. He seemed chirper despite it all. His chest was puffed out in pride like he had a new purpose. Undeniably, part of his uplifted attitude seeped into your pores. Kyle was good at that. 

Like clockwork, John and Simon emerged from the depths of their isolation. John made a comment or two about Kyle being late, to which Kyle responded that the bakery messed up your dessert and he had them start over. Fondness filled your heart at that. They knew it was your day and were trying to make it something. 

Kyle presented you the cheesy gift of a teddy bear and flowers, saying Johnny demanded it was tradition. It made you wonder how often Johnny spoke of you and when he even mentioned what he did for you every birthday. Even if you rolled your eyes at the collection of stuffed creatures throughout the years. 

Johnny really had taken care of you.

This year, however, your gifts were accompanied by a mixtape. Johnny's small chicken scratch writing greeted you. You turned the CD case over in your hands, hesitant despite it only being music that would probably greet you. 

The men surrounding you understood your reservations. John put a hand between your shoulder blades, a silent offering of assurance. It was almost a fatherly touch. In the time you have come to know him, you understood why his men looked up to him. He was an energy you naturally wanted to gravitate towards. 

An almost inaudible expression of grief left your lips. You wondered when it would get easier to not have Johnny in your life. You wanted him back so deeply that your heart was shattering into little glass shards. 

Would John care if you clung to him like a wounded child? Your eyes flickered up to the captain's, asking for something. Help? Something. You were never sure these days what you wanted.

“Go on then, love,” John spoke for you, urging you to pick yourself up from your brooding heap and figure out what was on the CD Johnny burned just for you.

You did. Your muscles still operated as you stood to your feet and carried yourself over to your CD player. Those things were collectables now, you cherished yours heavily.

The men took their spots respectively across the room. They were nearby in case you stumbled and never found the drive to get back up, but they also knew you deserved the time to yourself. They watched as you popped the CD into the player and pressed start, sinking into a cross-legged position on the carpeted floor. 

The first song came through clearly. Johnny Cash and his guitar serenaded you. It sucker punched you right in the heart, made your heart let strangled, pumping breaths, but stole them at the same time. It was so Johnny. To know how to burn your world and then repair it. 

We'll meet again. Don't know where. Don't know when. But I know we'll meet again some sunny day.

You looked up at the ceiling, falling back until your legs needed to stretch out in front of you. Tears collected in your ducts, making your vision turn wobbly. Your nose filled with congestion as you listened to the song. 

Are you with me, Johnny?

You had a deep-rooted feeling he was.

[masterj]

Watching SLOTLT:

....Okay... we need to talk about Sodor's Legend Of The Lost Treasure. Many TTTE fans love it and call it "the best special" and "the peak of CGI Thomas." But we need to face facts. It's far from everyone's favorite and actually the Most Controversial of CGI Thomas.

My stance? I say people who don't like SLOTLT are right- just for not for the valid reasons. Prepare to be roasted.

The movie heavily flanderizes Thomas and ruins his character development throughout the series. It practically takes everything that made him unlikable in the Miller era and turned him back into a complete, 100% irresponsible idiot. Take The Great Discovery, a special VERY similar in plot for example. After his trick on Stanley that demolishes the tower, he actually shows full remorse and tries to make up for his mistake.

In Lost Treasure, that is not the case. Here at the start of the movie he's just like, "I'm number one so I can do what I want!"

And it's not until THE DAY AFTER the Dynamite Incident that it finally sinks in and he's like "Aw it was my fault..."

Plus, he would've been mature enough by now not to let Gordon's teasing get to him. In Season 5, he literally tells Percy to just ignore George's insults and simply does just that.

Why are insults such a big deal to him NOW that he has to run of with Gordon's coaches and derail them??? This doesn't make sense! Yes, he is meant to be cheeky, but how the hell do we go from how he's written in Tale Of The Brave to this?!

So much dumb shit happens that could've and should have been easily avoided. The accidents Thomas cause would've have been stopped in a heartbeat if they ACTUALLY REMEMBERED drivers and firemen exist. When Thomas falls into the cavern? HOW THE HELL are they so unaware of the workmen shouting trying to stop them?! How do they not once look where he is going and see the signs?!

They're not even trying! Look at them in the cab! Up until the accident happens they're practically just chillin'! You're not fooling anybody! Are they high on crack in there??? Are they paying rent in there??? Do they just spontaneously go blind and deaf??? Hello?!?! Wake up and control your fucking train!!!

Let's cut back to the coaches. WHY is Thomas shunting Gordon's coaches when that is NOT his job anymore now that he has his branchline?! That's the whole reason the big engines went on strike and Percy was brought to the railway! Topham has HOW many shunters now? And you're SERIOUSLY gonna tell me not a single one could've done it instead? Look how empty Knapford is!

What about the Diesel Boxcab introduced this season? Why isn't he in this movie to do that instead? Did he die?

Overall, SLOTLT is just a pointless Great Discovery rehash sprinkled with stale RWS references, (which help set up this movie's god awful plot in the first place) returned characters, and cinematic visuals and music pretending it's actually a good movie with a likeable plot. Not only does it take the three-strike formula and fail miserably at making it good, (The three accidents Thomas causes) it can't even remember the show's continuity properly for God's sake! For a what's supposed to be a tribute to the RWS, this is not a good look at all, Andrew Brenner. You did not cook.

What's even worse is that for all these years everyone in this fandom just blindly glazes over everything this movie does wrong and then act like it's illegal for someone not to like it and it's disgusting. This movie single-handedly damaged the entire TTTE fandom for 10 years. 10. FUCKING. YEARS.

We already had a special that did this kind of plot so much better in every way. WHY are we doing it AGAIN??? Why wasn't The Adventure Begins enough for this year???

We did not need this. We did not need any of this shit. Just skip to Season 20 and you are not missing too much, I promise you. Peak CGI Thomas my ass. HALF the CGI specials are the least bit more deserving than this shitshow.

This movie sucks. We do not speak of it, I'm done talking about it, it's not canon, it doesn't deserve to be, it never existed. It's dead to me.

All it's got going for it are the visuals, voice acting and music, Donald, Douglas, Alfie and Oliver, Max, Monty, and Daisy returning, and the Miniature Engines introduced. That's it.

Just because a movie looks 'cinematic' does not automatically make it good.

[virginiaisforvampires]

Hello! Going off your previous post. Is the show really not that popular? I think it is especially with the subject matter. It's a bit obscure and Avant Garde for most , and let's be honest. Interracial marriage gay vampires can be a lot for some weirdos, but I see clips of it racking up over 100 k likes on TikTok recently. And I remember the bigoted Daily Mail even called it a hit show. Not to mention it's under best lists in industry heavyweight publications like TIME, Vanity Fair etc . Maybe I'm wrong and reading too much into it. But I definitely agree that it should be promoted better. Maybe it will this season? Akasha casting is crucial. I think FKA twigs could work. Famous celebrity to give it more exposure. People who loved Aaliyah would tune in. Maybe it's a slow burn hit show like Outlander was. Idk I'm rambling now. What do you think?

Hi there!

The show is a hit when it comes to most critics. It does routinely top many "best of" lists. However, there are still many mainstream publications that have no idea this show even exists. TikTok likes are not really indicative of a mass appeal general audience hit because, despite those TikTok hits, the show is still not a big-time show like, for example, Shōgun or Bridgerton or Yellowstone or House Of The Dragon or The Bear, just to name a few.

The problem is not the actors. The problem is AMC refusing to properly promote both the show and the actors. Sam and Jacob should've been on mainstream talk shows like Jimmy Fallon or Stephen Colbert or Good Morning America or the Today show. They've should've been doing the Buzzfeed puppy interview. They should've been on the covers of magazines like Vogue or Vanity Fair in erotic poses as Lestat and Louis.

The show and the actors should be everywhere like Taylor Swift, but like I said, the issue is AMC will not pay for that type of promotion, and it's only hurting the show in the long-run.

You mentioned Akasha, and I just have to say I don't understand the fandom obsession with her character. If the show does her right, she will not be the fanon version "yAs qUeEn" girlboss everyone inexplicably believes her to be. Therefore, I don't agree her casting will have any impact on popularity, because the two golden tickets — Jacob Anderson and Sam Reid — are already being terribly squandered by AMC and let's be real, AMC is not paying for an A-list actress and frankly, they don't need to. The charm of this show is the fact Rolin hires real talent usually based in the theater, and those types of actors know how big this show needs the emotion to go.

The upcoming S3 based on The Vampire Lestat.....this is the moment everyone has been waiting for. This is the moment in which AMC has soooooo many opportunities to push the show (and Sam and Jacob) into the stratosphere.

There should be musical collaborations with Elton John and Axel Rose as a tribute to their previous work with the Vampire Chronicles. There should be real The Vampire Lestat tour merch. There should be real The Vampire Lestat music videos. AMC should be promoting The Vampire Lestat as a real band and have Sam appearing as Lestat at mainstream events like the Grammys.

But no. Instead we get......*gestures around at the void in exasperated confusion*

That is where I'm coming from. This show and these actors have the potential to be something grand and off the charts, but the potential is being wasted by cheap ass AMC.

For example, just look at this:

This little blurry ass Zoom interview with horrible audio is AMC's idea of promotion.

That should've been them sitting on a couch in custom Armani suits with matching Loustat jewels on their lapels talking with Jimmy Kimmel about S2.

And if I was running AMC, even if I had to pay for the shit out of my own pocket, this would be done right and a new season would premiere every October.

[epickiya722]

With the information about Gege Akutami supposedly (I'm saying that because again, folks and translations) said that Gojo lost to Sukuna because he let his guard down I realized how this fandom sometimes don't be making sense to me.

I was reading some comments from a post on a different platform and came to realize that yeah, Gojo did let his guard down.

But unlike how some people say it was due to his cockiness, I don't think Gege meant it that way.

What I do think Gege meant was that Gojo was really just taken by surprise. Let's keep in mind that both Gojo and Sukuna were able to land hits back and forth on each other, pushing themselves past their limits. We do learn that even though Gojo lost to Sukuna, his fight against him did affect Sukuna.

So it's not like Gojo really ultimately lost. Sukuna did not leave that unscathed.

I would say this person puts it best.

Go back and you would see that, again, Sukuna was heavily damaged in the fight. So much so that chapter 235 did end with saying it was possible Gojo could win.

And this is how other characters did feel! So it's not like Gojo was the only one who thought he could win.

This is where the fandom actually confuses me.

Because this was not the only time Gojo has lost to someone. Technically, he lost in Shibuya and got put in a box because he what? Let his guard down.

He lost to Toji, in which this fight reflects (a Fushiguro is fighting Gojo, Gojo wears the same clothes Toji did, when Gojo is defeated a character reacts in a way that shows how distraught they are while also believing Gojo could not have been got) because what? He did, indeed, let his guard.

Not out of cockiness, but because he didn't expect Toji to still come after him when he knew his job was to assassinate Riko. We even get his thoughts on that! He literally goes "Oh, he's going after Riko" but then Toji pops up with a cursed tool!

However, I don't see the fandom jumping on Toji and calling him a "fraud" like they do Sukuna.

Both characters had a tool that cut through Gojo's Infinity. So why is one a fraud and the other isn't?

"Well, Sukuna is supposed to be strong!"

As was Toji? Hello?

Sukuna is strong, but he also isn't stupid. If you were fighting a strong opponent like Satoru Gojo, you would also take the means into taking him out with everything at your disposal.

Look, Gojo fan here. I truly believe that while Gege can be a bit of a troll sometimes I don't think everything he says or does is always him "being mean" let alone to Gojo.

I feel like a lot of you take "Gege hates Gojo" way too seriously and forget that your beloved blue eyed king is still his character whose story he wrote that most of you choose to not really understand and only care about Gojo because he's pretty and/or powerful.

Did not the first two times Gojo lost to someone not teach you that while he's powerful, he isn't invincible? That like every other character, he had his flaws?

Even if he didn't die, was it not kind of obvious that he may have lost regardless because Yuji would still have had to fight Sukuna?

Believe or not, Gojo's defeat felt foreshadowed with not only just him losing to Toji, a Fushiguro, but also by Gojo himself when he told Megumi, who Sukuna possesses just so he could defeat Gojo, that the last time there was a Gojo and Zenin like him and Megumi (that existed at the same time), they had their techniques and fought each other and died.

I don't know, maybe just me but I like to stop and think about what is being presented to me before I fly off in a rage. Especially, when translation is involved.

If Gege did mean Gojo let his guard down, I don't think he means in a vindictive way as Gojo has let his guard down before because of miscalculations and the other opponent having some ace up their sleeve. Yeah, maybe a bit of arrogance plays a part here, but it's not like that isn't allowed in storytelling or that Gojo has been the other character to lose because of arrogance.

I get being upset when it comes to your favorite characters, I get upset, too. But they are still characters who have flaws, who make mistakes and when they do so sometimes it's not because the creator doesn't like that character. It's because they're telling a story.

I'm gonna need Gege to not talk about Gojo anymore if some of his fans going to act as if Gojo can't lose or have flaws and that everything Gege says about him is from a place of hate.

He did let his guard down by making a mistake. Shoot, almost every character has!

Had Gege say this about any character I bet some folks would have been like "duh, isn't it obvious?"

[dialecticaldimensions]

Hello to any x files fans out there, I think I am finally ready to start my season 8 journey. Had to pause because I knew what was coming and as someone that was freshly experiencing grief about a year ago, I could not bring myself to continue… 

But!!! After a year of religiously consuming fanfic and reading many many msr/x files think pieces (shout out to @randomfoggytiger @thursdayinspace & @deathsbestgirl, I love scrolling your blogs & reading all of your thoughts!!) and also living vicariously through juni’s (mulders-too-large-shirt, not gonna tag her in case this is spoils something about s8) live blogging, I think I am finally ready to jump back in. 

I am so looking forward to the episodes I haven’t watched (despite already being irked with some plot lines), but I do like to watch source material for myself!! And the x files is truly some source material!!

For a show that was written in the 90s, the way I am sooooo drawn to Scully as a complex,well-rounded female character that I think even the more modern shows sometimes fail to fully capture. Because she’s just so complex and layered and multi dimensional in a way that I relate to and in the way that I see so many of the women in my own life. 

The way Scully is determined and strong and wants to be a boss-ass bitch, but is still sooo kind and empathetic and soft and girly (even though I think she wouldn’t really like to be associated with that term). 

Ugh, just ugh!!! As someone who also constantly struggles with wanting to be feminine and also wanting to be taken seriously!! I get it!! I get her!!! And gillian played this really well imo. There is so much depth to the way scully is portrayed even in times of shitty writing or less than compelling plot points. I have never been so drawn into a female character the way I have with her! 

And Mulder, my beloved. Definitely one of my all-time favourite male characters. He really is very kind and always willing to empathize with the victim. And the way he carries everything that happened with samantha and wraps it in layers and layers of dumb-ass humour, collapsing into his work and falling into his need to save everyone and everything around him. 

What I really like is how he is sooo determined to make the world better in the ways he knows how. And god, the way he claims the need to not trust anyone and be suspicious and question everything but never actually does that at some critical moments!! Because he so badly wants to believe in the goodness of people and wants to believe that he is worth the help, that they see what he’s fighting for and are willing to fight that fight. I want to scream about this so often. There is so much beauty in the subtle vulnerabilities of Mulder’s character and the way that he carries all that!! Again shout out to david for really playing to that in how he acts as Mulder. 

And then you put these two complex, flawed, unhinged individuals together and I have never known peace since!!! In the absolute best way. I have to say in the 15 years of being involved in a whole range of fandoms, I have never been quite as taken with a ship as I have been with msr. The way they fall into each other truly has me clutching at my heart. 

Because it really really is a meeting of minds and values and essences and an inherent understanding of what it means to exist in this world. They both have their own journey with that last one, but I think the way they move through that journey is soooo complementary to each other and that they could have only undertaken that journey once they met. 

… did not mean for this to be an essay haha, but this is what happens when I get started. This was mostly just a post to say if anyone wants to keep me company as I navigate s8 onwards, it would be v v welcomed! Periodic thought posts on the episodes will show up eventually ✨👽🛸

[azaharinflames]

Hello! I apologize for any awkward expressions, as I'm not American and not very proficient in English.

I wasn't part of the 9-1-1 fandom and watched it whenever I had time. It was a light show for me, but while watching 9-1-1, I hoped that Buck would find a partner to settle down with and be happy. (And I never felt even 1% of romantic feelings between Buck and Eddie.) When Buck broke up with Taylor, I understood the reason but felt regretful. After that, Tommy appeared as a meaningful LI. I sincerely cheered for Buck, seeing him happy.

I had high expectations for S8, but in 801, Tommy appeared briefly, and until 804, no one mentioned Tommy, which I found strange. Then I watched 805 and thought Henren's story was forced, but I liked Buck and Tommy's story. Then I watched 806, and... Buck and Tommy can break up. If it had been for a convincing reason like with Buck and Taylor, I would have been sad but understood. However, I couldn't understand the story in 806 at all, and the characters felt unfamiliar, as if they weren't the characters I knew. And the interviews with Tim and OS gave me trauma after enjoying watching 9-1-1 all this time.

Only Lou understood and empathized with me. I didn't know Lou and didn't remember Tommy from S2. I supported Buck and Tommy solely because Buck was happy... Especially OS's interview made me feel like Buck and Tommy were ignored as if they didn't exist. I don't usually have expectations for actors, but I was really disappointed. So, even though I subscribed to Disney+ annually because of 9-1-1, I no longer watch 9-1-1. I know that my not watching won't change anything. And I know that Tim doesn't have the ability to create good, creative stories. Knowing that Buck will just keep running in the same hamster wheel, I really lost expectations for Buck. Of course, knowing that other 9-1-1 characters besides Buck will also run in slightly different hamster wheels without development, I lost interest in the show itself.

Furthermore, I was honestly disappointed with the production team and the broadcasting company for not thinking of protecting the actor who was insulted and attacked in all sorts of ways just because they were Buck's LI. In the country where I live, if such a situation occurred, there would have been an official message from the broadcasting company and production team to stop the attacks and hatred.

I'm sorry for sending such a negative and pessimistic message. I wanted to confide in someone. Even if Tommy doesn't appear again, I plan to continue enjoying BuckTommy content on Tumblr and AO3, but I really miss the time when I was looking forward to and waiting for S8.

Hi, Nonnie! Sorry for taking a bit, physical therapy is kicking my ass rn lmao (kids do not tear your meniscus)

Okay by points. First of all - your English was perfect, don’t sweat it. English is my third language so Iunderstand where you come from, but you’re good!! Now:

you🤝me with this whole post. You were on my mind fr because I do share all of your thoughts.

Perhaps confession time: I liked Taylor! I ultimately understood why it wouldn’t work between Buck and her, but I liked her and I thought they were really cute. I was sad to see her go (although I’m glad by leaving we were able to eventually get Tommy)

Season 8 is the perfect illustration of something I’ve been thinking about 911 for a while - it is the land of missed potential. I’ve gone about it a few times so I won’t go over it again, but Season 8 is the perfect example of having lots they could do yet refusing to attempt to do it.

Your point on the break up is 100%. I would’ve actually understood and accepted it if it made sense in a larger scale, or if we had been introduced to it better. As it is, you do understand Tommy’s motives, but only if you look at the episode. Meaning: everyone acted so out of character during 806, it seemed like a different show. Therefore the break up (to me) does not make sense in a broader, more general view.

Your point on interviews: yeah I get it, sadly. The interviews left a sour taste in everyone’s mouth, because it did seem like Lou was the only one who truly cared for the couple and its fans. And for everyone who had been harassed for months for liking them, the nonchalant attitude of nearly everyone felt cruel and hurtful. It’s more than normal that many people felt like stop watching the show after it (me included). It does seem like OS has started to realize how big Bucktommy actually was and how liked they still are. So, progress? But it feels too little too late. Idk.

I also understand it does feel bad to see how they’ve ignored the bad treatment LFJr has received. Ofc we lack a lot of context (meaning: perhaps Lou himself asked them to ignore it, perhaps he did have a lot of support BTS), but the fact is that they let a group of deranged ‘fans’ bully and threaten an actor, and did nothing. No, instead it very much felt like those fans were being rewarded. It’s normal for us to not want to support that. I know I feel uncomfy with the idea of doing so.

We are lucky (infinitely lucky) that the Bucktommy fandom is filled with truly lovely and amazing people - people that are lovely to read, discuss with, and enjoy their art from!! If 911 doesn’t got my back, I know the BT fandom does ♥️

I hope you can continue to enjoy fandom life, anon! Ultimately they cannot take away what we enjoy!

My inbox is open for ranting, venting, giving opinions and confessions! And if you do not want them publish, please say so in your message 🥰 it’s cool with me, but I do need to know!

Take care <3

[ardentpoop]

hey!! i'm new to the spn fandom (haven't finished the show yet, a couple seasons left) and i love sam dearly and can obviously see all the abuse he suffers (mainly by dean, who is actually so so so awful to him in inconceivable ways) but i'm new to tumblr and all the meta and critical thinkpieces of the people who discuss this and the amount of topics and information and posts (bc there are layers upon layer upon layers!!) is so overwhelming for someone who just got here lol so i was wondering where do you think i should start & if there's any "start here" guide to the show through the sam lens or how did you start bc obviously i can see it watching it but there's stuff i miss. anyways yeah sorry for the rambling and hope i could get my point across lol <3 ty in advance, i love reading your posts on the spn dynamics even if sometimes they make me a little confused or I can't fully grasp everything hope i don't sound dumb

oh my god hello. first of all please understand that my perspective on the show is (unfortunately) quite fringe and tends to attract hate whenever people from the broader fandom(s) notice it. doesn’t help that I get heated abt certain recurring issues sometimes 😀

overall this fandom is genuinely huge and obviously pretty old now so I understand being overwhelmed by it. frankly if you watched the show while focused on sam and especially if you care about him for personal reasons you need to be aware of how cynically and/or one-dimensionally much of the fandom interprets and portrays him - this has been going on for years because most people (regardless of fandom segment) prefer dean and shape their “meta” and their fic around that preference regardless of canon characterization and power dynamics.

speaking of fandom segments let me give you a basic overview of what those look like:

d*stiel fandom (I refer to it as “D/C fandom” sometimes and “normie fandom” often). this is the largest segment of the tumblr fandom by a MILE. most outspoken sam haters live here bc it is better for their ship if sam doesn’t exist and particularly not as dean’s long-term partner.

wncest fandom (I refer to it as “S/D fandom” sometimes). many outspoken sam haters here as well - though they would never identify themselves as such - because viewing the entire show through a Traditional (lol) shipping lens can tend to muddy individual characterizations, and because dean is the character with the louder voice in canon these fans get just as offended as others do when you turn up the volume on sam’s perspective. this is all exacerbated by fans in general wanting their favorite character to be the victim in every scenario regardless of the actual power dynamics at play.

sastiel fandom. extremely small compared to either of the above, and better off for it. I will always think of them as the chillest group of fans. what no dean does to a motherfucker (positive) <3

on top of these ship segments you have the overarching “dean g*rls” versus “sam g*rls” dynamic. you’ll see people in S/D fandom in particular claiming these separate fan perspectives as compatible/harmonious. do not believe them lmfao. a lot of people use these labels to signal a superficial preference for one brother over the other (e.g. which one is hotter to you in the context of porn) but for the more engaged fans there is a world of baggage attached to each of these labels, depending on your own view of the show. TL;DR if you love sam and are invested in his mistreatment on the show - especially if this includes his mistreatment by dean - you’ll quickly notice that dean stan circles are not for you.

non-shippers and multi-shippers will more than likely self-identify as either sam g!rls or dean g!rls. if someone calls themself a “cas g!rl” they are almost definitely a D/C shipper or only ever interacting with D/C shippers.

with All That out of the way I recommend making note of which meta posts are most interesting to you and who wrote them, and seeing who their fandom friends are/whose meta they are boosting. here are some common discussion topics that you can search sam blogs for:

sam and bodily autonomy (lack thereof)

the implications of the demon blood arc and how general audiences responded to it

the implications of the soulless!sam arc and how general audiences responded to it

the implications of the trials!sam arc and how general audiences responded to it

the implications of the gadreel!sam arc and how general audiences responded to it

sam and lucifer/sam in the cage

the case for transfem sam (beware of reductive “woman-coding” discourse)

related to the above: dean’s role in the story vs sam’s

sam and faith

sam and food

how we got from “early-seasons” sam to “late-seasons” sam

I have an entire crazy list of sam relationship tags that I won’t put here but here are a few general ones of mine that might be of interest:

#the roles

#us and them

#the audience versus sam and dean

#fandom mythbusting

#hall of mirrors

there is also the “sam winchester centric” ao3 tag which you can try using to narrow down fic/fic collections.

good luck!!!! samtuals feel free to drop recommendations of your own in the comments.

[lurveinn]

I’m so curious about Wizarding fashion. JKR isn’t very physically descriptive- we just know that wizards wear robes, which are outlandish to muggles, and pointy hats, but what does that really mean? What kind of robe? Magical fashion clearly isn’t very gendered, since Harry remarks on a man at the Quidditch World Cup wearing a dress and insisting that it’s unisex (certainly not the case in Britain at the time), but we don’t have any other parameters. Keeping in mind the uniform from the movies, and the fact that in SWM, Snape isn’t wearing any trousers, here’s what I think wizards wear:

1. Flowing silhouettes and cloaks; clearly, wizards love a good statement cloak. Think tassels and frills (not like Ron’s Yule Ball fit!), massive extended sleeves and lots of draping.

2. Skirts: let’s be honest, just one singular robe, without any layering, doesn’t give us much to work with. Skirts go with the general silhouette, explain why the World Cup wizard thought muggle men wore dresses, and keep with the no-trousers thing from SWM. I’m South Asian, so I like to have a little fun with it and think of wizards in ghararas (my favourite item of clothing); the Wizarding World is quite insular, travel is relatively unrestricted (hello, they have magic!), everyone has a common enemy in muggles (and other species- goblins, house-elves) etcetera, so race probably doesn’t function the same way and I headcanon a lot of cross-cultural exchange. Plus, wizarding fashion isn’t restricted by weather- they have warming charms- so wearing clothes made for hot climates in England, for example, wouldn’t be a problem.

Plus, I actually think saris are a natural fancy dress option- flowy, drapey, colourful. Speaking of which-

3. If there’s one fanon idea that I hate (aside from fanon!Sirius, of course), it’s this image of wizards (specifically high society wizards) as reserved. Sorry, did we read the same books? Wizards, even posh, rich wizards, like the Malfoys and Blacks, are camp and very outlandish. They do house-elf taxidermy, they keep their wands in canes. Just because Hogwarts uniforms are black doesn’t mean that people dress like they’re in mourning all the time. People can be total snobs and obsessed with their image and still wear bright pink, insane robes, because guess what? They have different social conventions than we do. Men and women dress basically the same, so there is no reason to believe that a man wearing a flowing robe would be against the norm. I say this as someone who believes misogyny and homophobia are well and truly alive in Wizarding society, especially in pureblooded families where the emphasis is on continuing the line; they definitely exist, but they probably look different.

4. My personal obsession and headcanon: rich wizards wearing bones. Look, I might not think of them as racist in the traditional sense, but they are undeniably speciesist, if that’s a word? They think of themselves as superior, and other sentient magical species either work under (goblins) or are enslaved (house-elves) by wizards. We only see Veelas very briefly, but despite them being admired for their beauty, I doubt wizards treat them very well. So- show me blood-purists wearing corsets made of goblin bones and teeth. Show me Veelas being hunted for their blood to stain and dye clothes with. Show me exotic “magical creatures” that are humanoid and capable of reasoning and should have rights, like mermaids and werewolves, being hunted for their scales and pelts while also being ostracised for being ‘non-human’. It’s terrible, but that’s the kind of archaic jewellery and fashion the old families that the fandom likes to fetishise would like to wear.

[loumandaniel]

Yeah. Armand looks sooooo annoyed 😭😭😭 every time Daniel opens his mouth. I have to confess something. Even if I do kind of like the concept of dm and the eternal sunshine theory- I do love the question of what happens if you don't have time and your loved ones will never run out of time and also won't ever grow into anything else either- I don't think past dm happened. And uh. Idk how can dm happen then if there has been no past dm and a considerable part of dm was Armand terrorizing Daniel and Daniel trying to push through it before they eventually take a liking to each other.

i agree that past devil’s minion is essential, so without it, present dm going forward could feel odd. it’s easy to forget in fandom that devil’s minion is a blank slate right now. everything about them is essentially just theory. if you avoid outside interviews and books, the only thing you really know is that armand turned daniel out of spite. that’s it. if you don’t actively search for them, you won’t know they’re drifting toward something romantic until it actually happens.

i just can't come up with a reason to remove the chapter at all though. it plays a major role in armand grappling with his trauma surrounding marius, so i see no reason for it to be cut (hello anne rice's opinion on the cycle of abuse). it also ties into daniel’s character - his pursuit of truth, even to disastrous and unethical ends. the core elements of their relationship can exist in any form, but if there were to be something more between armand and daniel, it fits perfectly within themes of the show and who they are, even with your mention of "time running out." if dm broke up as poorly as they did in the book and there is no queen of the damned event to bring them back together, then of course armand being annoyed fits very well. imagine your annoying ex who left you because you two got too codependent is in your home untying your web you built for your current companion lol. i wouldn't want the king of destroying relationships in MY house.

the issue i've found with fandom and devil's minion (and honestly, a lot of other characters & ships get this treatment too) is that they're quite sanitized. when held up against their antagonism in the show, this tends to lead towards conflicting opinions. i hate to say it, but reading the books does a lot more heavy-lifting than one would expect. armand and daniel don't speak any differently in the show than they do in the books lol. they clash in both materials. they both want what the other has and they bleed together, which results in love.

i know this is mean to say, but the iwtv fandom as a whole really sands down the idea of love, or sticks to one singular interpretation. love doesn't immediately equate to a positive. the entire show revolves around how vampirism, whether as a curse or as a gift, confronts your emotions, your memory, against an unending corridor of time. if time heals all wounds, how many times can you rip the scar open again? like, yes, sure, louis and lestat love each other, but should louis love the man who dropped him thousands of feet to punish him for his denial of love? no lol. except, love here is measured against a passage of time beyond human comprehension. much of the love in this show can be horrific and dark, and yet there it is.

anyway, an unnecessarily long post to essentially say that, yea, devil's minion fits the show's theme too well for it to be abandoned in any form. armand enjoys living in lies at his own comfort, while daniel will pursue truth at the cost of his own. throw in the theory that a part of daniel's life is gone, potentially because of something armand has done? now, they’re clashing, but each with a long stretch of time to deal with that. they can be the warped mirror image of loustat, which is delicious to think about.

[hanna-water]

Hello . I am a new fan to the tatort series and I don't understand German so I watched the show with English subtitles even though English isn't my first language. 😅

The reason I loved this show is FIRST OF Adam and Leo and then bc I love crime genres . ( There's this thing called bromance and I love it when this exists in any show .

Anyway sorry for yapping . 😄 I love your theories and assumptions and I Google translated most of your posts about hörk / spatort . 😍 And I have a question to ask you about one of your posts .

There's a post in your account about the possibility of expecting teenage love existing in ep 7 " the evil in you " and you mentioned that they're probably gonna also show Leo and Adam's relationship when they were younger, as more than just friends .

So my question is where does this assumption come from ? Was there a spoiler of something around for the next episode ? Did the cast or producers talk about the plot of Ep ? I would appreciate it if you let me know ❤️

Hey @loustat-0 🤗, first of all welcome to this lovely fandom (or emotional hell 😎) and huge respect for working your way through translations and subtitles 🧡. I know from my own experience that entering a foreign fandom can be challenging in the beginning. Spatort has been the first fandom in my native language for quite a while. 😄 And I am so happy to hear that you liked my posts and theories 🥰! Regarding your question: Actually I am not even 100% sure if that was my own theory 😅 or if I just reblogged a post and added my opinion. Because other people definitely voiced thoughts about it before me, which inspired me. But the reasons for the theory are the following indicators: - the director of the next Tatort (our beloved Luzie Loose) has a moodboard on pinterest (x) which sparked the idea that teenage love and queer love could be topics in "the evil in you" (I just realized how cool the title sounds in english 🔥). As well as a gloomy, mysterious village aesthetic, which I am every excited about. Luzie Loose also posted a story on Instagram in early 2025 that showed a couple of pictures that she apparently used as inspiration for the new film. I was unable to find the post here on tumblr right now but the pictures indicated as well that teenage love could be a topic. - the synopsis of the next film (x) mentions a girl named Claire Louis, who was the best friend of the murdered girl Becky and might be a suspect. It also talks about surpressed truths. 👀 When I read the synopsis my first thought was that Becky and Claire might have been more then just friends and that Beckys death could be connected to someone finding out about them. If the people in the village are very homophobic and conservative, that could be one reason why Esther left her home many years ago and never came back. The connection to Adam and Leo is mostly wishful thinking but it would make a lot of sense in my opinion. Since the very first film aired, people had theories that Adam and Leo might have had romantic feelings for each other already as teenagers but never confessed that to the other one. In my personal opinion those surpressed feelings could have been one of the reasons why Adam left and never contacted Leo in those 15 years. He could not deal with his feelings yet or was unable to accept who he was. Maybe even a drunk kiss had happened between them and scared the hell out of him, who knows. Would explain why he stopped drinking as an adult... However I am hoping that while Adam and Leo are working on the case, they will also be confronted with their own past and all those unresolved feelings. I think it would be the perfect opportunity to explain their relationship while it would still be related to the crime. A lot of parallels to Beckys and Claires story could be shown just with looks between Adam and Leo for example (and we know how good the actors are at microexpressions that will haunt us forever 😏). It could as well be connected to Esthers story and her past. I am very excited to learn more about her in the next film. In the best case scenario there will be some deep talk between her and Adam about their shared experience of leaving home but I don´t wanna get my hopes up too much.

[a-bottle-of-tyelenol]

hello!!!!! you’ve mentioned previously that you have some opinions on bakugo mitsuki as a mother, and im super curious about them 👁️👁️

Hihi!!! Basically, I’m one of those people that really dislikes Mitsuki. Ultimately , my opinion is that the fandom can be really weird in their mindset about her because she is a toxic/bad mother, and I think that’s true regardless of how much someone might like her.

(This is really long because I yap about a couple different things, sorry!)

Mitsuki falls victim to an issue that I have with Horikoshi as an author; he has a really bad problem with tone and trying to merge his comedic aspects with his more serious ones. The best example I have is Hagakure, a character that solely exists because he thought it was funny to have a female character with the ‘needs to be naked to be invisible’ trope— something that destroyed her ability to be an ACTUAL character and caused her to be so overlooked that she accidentally makes more sense as the traitor than Aoyama, the one that was known to be traitor since day one.

It’s absolutely fine to have darker themes in a silly show, have a kids’ show become darker, or have two juxtaposing tones to highlight how serious things are getting. Spy x family is a show that does this incredibly well, imo, even with some of the pacing issues I have with it. With mha, however, Horikoshi will just randomly add things and commit to them just because he’s thinks it’s a funny bit and it ultimately ruins a lot of things about his work.

Bakugou Katsuki is one of them. As much as I love him, his character is fundamentally flawed because his author’s intentions with him and what the audience would interpret from him are so vastly different. The reason for this is because there are two major aspects of his character that are big deals but Horikoshi refuses to actually handle it as if it is because, to him, they’re jokes or something that’s not meant to be taken too seriously (based on the way he addresses them). The Sports Festival ending was absolutely horrifying if you think about it for more than two seconds— there is absolutely no way it is ever NOT abusive to muzzle and chain up a fifteen year old boy on NATIONAL television (possibly international because Aizawa says this festival replaces the Olympics). This is especially true when that same student had previously been attacked by a villain that GAGGED and RESTRAINED him (the sludge villain at the beginning of the show).

This is something that would traumatize him. I don’t care if he “deserved it” (he didn’t), this was humiliating and abusive and if UA wasn’t a sociopolitical superpower alongside the hero commission, the repercussions of this would’ve been devastating. But it’s never addressed because Horikoshi did it as a joke. This moment is meant to be funny and you’re supposed to laugh at how out of control Bakugou is. Despite the fact that this display is what leads the MAIN ANTAGONISTS to feel sorry for him and offer him a place with them because they believe he’s being abused by hero society. And I could hear the argument that this was all intentional and the league kidnapping him was meant to show how bad the end of the festival was, but I’d argue that nothing ever happens to cement that idea (in the anime, at least! I know that lots of stuff gets cut from the manga so it might not be wholly Horikoshi’s fault if there is manga or side content that goes against any of this). No one ever apologizes to Bakugou for it. Bakugou never talks to a friend about how these events were connected. It’s never addressed and, with how the villains and hero society are consistently treated throughout the series, I find it hard to believe that this was the actual intention here.

All this to say that his relationship with his mother is the exact same.

Mitsuki treats him the way she does because Horikoshi thinks it’s funny. She’s meant to be a parody of the strict/harsh mother that a lot of Asian households have— but the problem with this is that a lot of Asian mothers are abusive. In fact, the “harsh” way a lot of parents are across different cultures is all abusive, but it’s often justified with “well, that’s just how parents are here” but I don’t think that’s a good excuse.

It’s important to note that her being abusive makes her a bad mother, but I don’t think she doesn’t love her son or that she’s inherently a bad person. People often jump to this defense when you say she’s abusive, which is part of the strange mindset I spoke of earlier. It’s really dangerous, imo, to imply that an abusive person can’t love their victim and I don’t like that perspective, even with domestic abuse. These things have nuance and it’s not an all or nothing thing like people online like to pretend it is. Treating someone badly doesn’t automatically mean there’s no way you could ever love them or care for them, it just means that you treated them badly. Their love doesn’t justify their abuse, nor does it make it any less bad or traumatizing and saying that it’s okay because Mitsuki loves him has that implication.

In the same way I can say that someone is saying/doing something homophobic and not mean that they are a homophobe that hates gay people and wants to take our rights away, Mitsuki is abusive, but I don’t mean she’s a ruthless child abuser that feels no love or remorse. I’ll say that again: when I say she’s abusive, I don’t mean she’s incapable of love, but her loving her son does not change the fact that she treats him poorly and that she, and any mother she’s meant to parody, are bad mothers because this isn’t a healthy way to raise a child.

And I say that as someone who has a mother like her! Mitsuki as a fandom topic is really triggering for me and I tend to avoid positive posts about her because so many people like to justify her behavior, which in turn feels like they’re justifying my mother’s behavior. To add context as well, I’m white but my mother’s side of the family is all Japanese, with my great-grandmother being the one to immigrate to America. I don’t say this to compare my experiences with people who are actually Asian or Asian-American with mothers like Mitsuki (because I’m like 1/8th Japanese at this point so I’m in no way apart of this group 😭😭), but a lot of these behaviors are caused by generational trauma and I know my mother acted the way she did because of her mother, and because of her mother, and so on. Basically, this topic is kind of personal to me, even if I’m not in the exact position to be able to speak on it from a cultural standpoint.

To circle back, though, I don’t believe it’s accurate to say my mother doesn’t love me, even though she was abusive to me. I don’t think it’s accurate to say my grandmother didn’t love my mother, even though she was abusive towards her. Parents are far more complicated than that and it feels really gross to justify objectively bad actions by saying “well, she can’t be abusive because she means well and loves her son!”

Arguably, Endeavor loves his kids, as shown in his atonement arc (though, I don’t love how that one is written either)— that doesn’t make things any better, though, does it?

Mitsuki hits Katsuki. That is an objective fact because I have the scene pulled up right now and I’m watching it happen. Another objective fact is that it’s never okay to hit your kids. It’s not okay to spank them. It’s not okay to whoop them. Psychologically, this does more damage than good and Katsuki is actually such a good representation as to why. When you hit a kid for being bad or too much, they learn that when someone is “bad” then they deserve to be hurt, which leads them down two roads— either THEY become physical against other people when other people do something wrong (like the way Katsuki uses his quirk against Izuku— because, yes, Katsuki was abusive towards Izuku too. That doesn’t mean he’s a bad person now. He was a child and this was a learned behavior from his mother/his environment but that doesn’t suddenly justify it or make it better), or it means that they continue to allow other people, such as romantic partners, to hurt them as they get older because they feel like that’s the acceptable punishment.

I don’t care that he’s a teenager. I don’t care that she does it to reel him in. If it’s not okay to smack another adult because of their attitude problems, it’s not okay to do it to a child.

And the way she speaks to him is incredibly damaging. I don’t have access to the manga panels rn so this is based on the anime (dub with the translated subtitles) so maybe the manga handles it slightly better— but when Aizawa goes to ask for permission to let Katsuki stay at the dorms, Mitsuki smacks him COMPLETELY UNPROVOKED and when he snaps back at her with aggression telling her not to hit him, she responds with ANOTHER smack and says, “Oh, shut up! It’s your fault to begin with for being so weak. You got caught, and now you’re causing everyone trouble!” (subs)/“Oh hush! If you hadn’t been so damn weak, you never would’ve gotten caught and caused all that trouble!” (dub line)

Her son was just kidnapped.

Kidnapped by people that, at this point, have cemented themselves as incredibly dangerous individuals. The nomus are publicly known and publicly associated with the league because of the attack in Hosu City. He was kidnapped by people so dangerous that ALL MIGHT had to retire after he fought them— on NATIONAL TELEVISION. Katsuki could have died. Katsuki was traumatized. And this is how she treats him in front of PRO HEROES.

Following this, she hits him AGAIN and goes on about how Katsuki is good at everything because of his quirk, but that he was always being praised for shallow stuff and she says that it’s likely why he ended up like this. For starters, this obviously upsets him a bit. Humbling him isn’t a bad thing, but there’s a time and place for it and it’s very obvious that this line of thinking is how we end up with him having his fight against Izuku. He’s incredibly insecure despite his pride and if everyone was praising him for shallow stuff, what was she doing? How was she handling it other than hitting him and telling him that he’s weak? Do you really expect me to believe that the ONLY reason Katsuki acts the way he does is because his peers and teachers said that he was the best, and it has nothing to do with his mother who is aggressive even when he doesn’t do anything and describes him as “good at pretty much everything he does because of his blessed quirk”? His mother who responds to his kidnapping with “well, you got caught because you were weak and it caused so much trouble”?

Children are a product of their environment and there’s nothing anyone can do to convince me that Katsuki is the only child in the world whose biggest influence wasn’t his parents.

“He’s a hot tempered brat and we know he’s a pain” (dub)/“he’s a hopeless guy” (sub). If she talks like this to his teachers, to Pro Heroes, how does she talk to him when they’re alone? How did she respond when he was attacked by the slime villain? When he was chained up and muzzled on live television? You simply can’t convince me that she would’ve reacted any better.

I don’t care that she liked what Aizawa said at the press conference. I don’t care that she means well. I don’t care that she loves him. I don’t care that she clearly cares for him at the end of the manga when he’s in the hospital. No amount of manga panels showing her smiling when she’s near him or holding him as a baby will change the fact that she is a major part of why Katsuki is the way he is. Again, she can love him and be trying her absolute best and still be abusive or a bad mother, regardless of what Horikoshi was intending. I will never argue that she hates her son or that she does this maliciously— but based on her behavior, she’s incredibly damaging to be around.

When did she start hitting him? Was it when he was younger and getting too prideful for his own good? Did it start because he was annoying? Or because he had an attitude problem that she didn’t have the patience to solve without needless violence? Did she try anything other than hitting him or was he just getting on her nerves so that’s what she resorted to first? There are times where kids are truly uncontrollable and there really is nothing you can do to stop them from acting out. There are so many parents right now dealing with kids that refuse to listen and are engaging in really bad behaviors— again, I have personal experience with this.

But something tells me that Katsuki isn’t and never was meant to be one of those kids. Something tells me (and that something is his characterization and how he thrives under Aizawa who actually respects him and how he’s disciplined and grows without parental intervention and how he’s a hero) that Katsuki was not so uncontrollable and dangerous that it warranted any of this. He’s a fifteen year old boy going through some of the worst things people in this universe can imagine and she’s treating him like a burden. It’s actually devastating when you think about it.

My mother did the best she possibly could with the resources she had and I have no doubt that she loves me. But love should never feel like that, and while I respect anyone who wants to like Mitsuki or play with the Bakugou family dynamics, I don’t like her and I don’t like his family and I don’t like the amount of people in the mha fandom that consistently try to justify her behavior by saying it’s just a joke or just a product of the culture.

TLDR: I really dislike Mitsuki and how she’s handled in both the show and fandom. I 100% think that Katsuki is a victim— of his parents, of UA and hero society, and of the villains that target him— and it’s such a critical part of his character to me, a part that often goes overlooked because it genuinely doesn’t seem like most of it was intentional so a lot of people ignore it or just miss it entirely.