#I hope the fandom will be reasonable with her

[shoups32]

The mischaracterization of Mel Medarda by both the fandom and the show has to be one of the worst things about arcane.

In the show we see her get mischaracterized and completely ruined mostly when it comes to Viktor and mostly in season 2. This is mostly because of Amanda’s very clear dislike of her (she has said on twitter that she finds Mel boring and did basically use her to further the plot of Viktor.) but I also think a part of it is just the inconsistencies of her character. A good example of this is that we see in season 1 through a flashback that Mel is a very thoughtful character that doesn’t agree with the laws of Noxus nor their reign over Ionia. Inside the show this gets completely ignored when we see her judging Viktor due to him being from Zaun (though I don’t think that is what that scene was implying that seems to be what most do think). With what we know about her she wouldn’t be judgmental of people from Zaun. Now this isn’t to say she would have fixed all the issues and stood up for Zaun from the beginning because she still does care about her power. This is just one of the many inconsistencies in her character in arcane.

Another issue (that is far more important in my opinion) with how she is written that I believe contributes to my post is that she is written into the “disposable black girlfriend trope” not only by the fandom but by the show itself. We see this most in season two when any moment between Jayce and Mel gets Viktor in it. It is very clear Jayce cares for both of them dearly but we also see her get overshadowed by Viktor multiple times. One example is the fire scene. Jayce sees Mel first then it goes to Viktor, that could be a good show on how he cares about them both but it is shown more in a way that makes it seem as though Jayce overshadows Mel with Viktor. Of course this point is only proven more in context of the fact that Jayce rarely ever spoke to Mel in season 2 and didn’t either bring up Viktor or basically called her a shitty person. While I get a lot of people’s defense for this is that in canon Jayce was stressed when you put it all together that defense doesn’t work out much.

My final point is to why and how I think she was so butchered in the show (mostly season 2). One reason is the writers clear dislike to her. Amanda herself has admitted to finding her boring and using her for Viktor on Twitter. In season 1 I think what was protecting Mel from how bad she was portrayed in season 2 was the fact that it had a huge team of writers. Season 2 has been confirmed to only have about 3 writers so not many people to actually give the characters the love they deserve. I think season 2 being rushed is also a huge issue but that is a whole other topic.

If you don’t agree with this that is fine I just have gotten tired of the fandom mistreating her. I do hope someone reads this though and realizes how bad her character is treated.

[waterdeepwife]

I’m not that type of person to shame others for what they are into, even things that lean toward dark romance. I’ve always been a “don’t like it don’t read it person”, which I always do. I always avoid topics I don’t like, but I have no idea how I accidentally stumbled into a Wyll x Mizora fic. Thankfully the people who ship them are very few in number, let’s just hope it stays that way.

A lot of fans have been very… strange towards Wyll. I’ve seen a lot of racism towards him, and even racial stereotypes placed onto him for no reason. Like the he’s overly loud and aggressive, which isn’t even true?? (I could also go on about this)

I genuinely have no idea how the women can’t be abusers thing started? Especially in the Bg3 fandom, when it’s laid out in front of us, that yes Mizora and Mystra are abusers. The only exception to people accepting a woman as an abuser is Shar, but her victim was a female, so of course they’d be more accepting.

I’ve had terrible things happened to me from both men and women. I look forward to the day when people realize an abuser can be anybody, no matter gender or anything else. I’m so sorry to hear about what happened to you, I’m here if you ever need anything st all, don’t be afraid to message me!

Another thing that irks me about Gale and the fandom is the people who think Gale liked the foursome with the drow.

I was trying to read some arguments on the whole "did mystra groom gale" debate. It doesn't make too much of a difference to me whether she did groom him or not because the relationship was still deeply unhealthy even without the grooming aspect. As a csa survivor, I tend to accept the grooming interpretation simply because I see a lot of myself in him. Out of the whole cast of companions, it's him that's painfully relatable oftentimes. I do understand this interpretation might not be canon though, so I wanted to look more into it to see the truth.

But aside from that, I saw people arguing that turning gale into some victim of mystra would diminish his character arc because gale would be lacking in agency and that it excuses all his wrongdoings and that... irked me.

A person being a victim doesn't mean they're free from all blame and are some sad little meow meow. We see this in ascended astarion, who falls into the victim becoming the abuser cycle.

It's a very black and white view of victims that would ultimately do more harm than good because it leads people to being dismissive of real victims because they don't fit the pure and ideal mold of one.

[kravinoffswife]

Room 87 - J. Todd x fem!reader༊*·˚

Fandom: DC

Summary: [y/n] receives a message from Jason telling her to pay him a visit and she can't resist.

Content warnings: a bit angsty, suggestive, some touching, reader is AFAB

A/N: First time writing a oneshot, I hope it's not horrible.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Come over.

These two words stared at [y/n], the illumination from her phone screen blinding in the otherwise dark room. She squinted at the message as if trying to decipher some hidden meaning. He had to be drunk, Jason never contacted her sober, the inverse was also true. It had been a year and a half since they had broken it off. Since then, they had seen each other every other month. It was a cycle, really. She'd drown herself in cheap cocktails and the touches of strangers to try and distract herself from what she really wanted - the feeling of his lips on her neck, his cock in her cunt. It was rather counter-intuitive; her alcohol fueled benders always ended up with her splayed out in Jason's bed.

She groaned and looked at the message again, her mind rattling off reasons as to why she should ignore it. She continued to give the more logical side of her brain center-stage as hopped into the shower, shaved, massaged the scented body lotion that she knew drove Jason crazy into her skin, picked an utterly devious set of underwear, put on a contrastingly tame outfit, applied her favourite lip gloss and left the house.

Her journey to the address he had sent was trance-like. She saw each street-name, each dingy apartment block, stray animals and strange people that reminded [y/n] that Gotham had a bit of a crime problem, but nothing seemed to actually register until she got to her destination.

It was a motel that was somewhere between decent and semi-nice. For Jason, this was shelling out. He was a very practical man, not willing to splurge on luxuries. She entered through the slightly weathered front doors, the clean smell of citrus and patchouli hitting her as soon as she crossed the threshold. The woman at the desk surveyed her, hot-pink lips chewing fervently on a wad of gum.

"Evening, lovely." Her tone was friendly and inviting. "How can I help you?"

"I'm visiting someone in room 87."

The receptionist looked at her knowingly, her periwinkle eyes sparkling with mischeif.

"Third floor." She smirked. "Gum?" She held out a stick of spearmint gum and winked. [y/n] took a piece gratefully.

"Have fun!" ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

The elevator dinged once she had reached the third floor. [y/n]'s knuckles had barely grazed the door when it swung open. Jason's large hands wrapped around her waist and pulled her inside. He kicked the door shut.

"Hey" He rasped.

"Hey" She said quietly into his chest.

"I missed you."

"Mhm" She inhaled his musky scent. "I'm guessing you haven't just missed my stellar conversation"

"No, not just that."

She played with the hem of his shirt. Jason was not as playful and tugged her shirt over her head in one swift movement. She squealed as her skin was greeted by the cold air. Jason had a tendency to have the AC turned up. She shivered a bit.

"Cold, baby?" She nodded. He chuckled and ran a finger along her collarbone. "I'll get you all warmed up in no time."

She moaned at what he was alluding to. Her fingers dropped from his shirt to his belt buckle. As she did so, his lips captured hers in a kiss. There was no romance, only pure desire. He pushed her up against the wall. His hands ran through her hair, turning it into a mess of curls, something that she would ultimately tell him off for doing later as she had gone to the salon that very morning. She moaned when she finally got his pants off. She cupped his length through his boxers; rock hard. This only seemed to get her wetter and erode her willpower further. She bit his bottom lip and sucked on it gently. Jason groaned. Such a pretty sound. She wanted to make him do it again.

He pulled away from her, breath slightly ragged from the intensity of their union.

"You're too dressed for this, baby." He spoke against her neck, peppering the perfumed skin with rough kisses.

"Could say the same about you."

"Why don't we fix that, huh?" He took off his fitted black tee, revealing his sculpted torso, strong chest and wide shoulders. Although, she had seen his body several times, [y/n] couldn't help but gasp. She ran her fingers along the dips of his abdomen before settling back on his chest, her thump swiping over the raised skin of one of his many scars. Jason unclipped her bra and helped her out of her pants. He eyed her hungrily and his hands moved lower.

"You're so perfect." He mused as he kneaded her ass. "I love you."

"Love you more." She responded without any hesitancy. It was going to be a long night.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

[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

[call-me-insane-but-wth]

Something that I've come to realize from interacting with the mzds Fandom and the #canon jiang cheng tag is that a lot of avid jc defenders and apologists don't even like Mdzs. Even, no, especially BECAUSE the story is straightforward and told plainly with not much room for interpretation.

The mmc was brought back to life and faced evidence of slander and appropriation of his work and name. Shrugs it off as 'history being told by the victors'. Discovers the real reason behind his death. Falls in love with an old colleague.

That's it. That's the bare bones of mdzs.

Wherefore do all of these think pieces come from? That sides with the *antagonists* of the story? The very same ppl who slandered and appropriated the mmc's name and work?

There's a lot of condenscion and pretentiousness being tossed about, couched in variations of "*I* know how to be objective and separate fiction from reality!1!!" But do you, though?

Because the reality is that the fiction you've consumed is not only telling, but SHOWING you who/which characters were in the wrong and how. Although you may not like the main character, mdzs IS 3rd person omniscient. The bias that jc stans are so bitter and venomous about is simply... Canonical unbiased 3rd person omniscient exposition.

In the final analysis, doesn't this/that mean that to you, the *author's* morality and her narrative no longer hold any value? After all, the author herself was the one to say that her mmc was morally good and righteous. So if you're calling the authors cognition of right and wrong into question, what on earth did you like about this work in the first place?

Don't like, don't read is an age old tenet of Fandom for a reason.

I had the pleasure of conversing with someone who considers that the consensual dubcon play between two consenting adults (lwj and wwx, incense chapter) to justify coercing the mmc into bowing his knees in reconciliation with his former shidi and wanna be patron (😅). Bc that was a moral failing worth punishment, I suppose.

Another post I saw that had me going ??? Was a post in which the op admitted to their own bias, but in summary, considered Wwx to be faulty simply because his 'idealism' was unrealistic and un-pragmatic, and hadn't amounted to a quantifiable sum.

Hey, forget the dissonance of admitting that the obvious plot of classism, scapegoating, disenfranchisment, and exploitation being lost on you, but to scorn a failed attempt at living up to ones principles... Isn't that also another way of allying oneself with the antagonists?

After all, scorning the 'short sightedness of rebellious peasants/immature youth' is straight out of a sneering gentry's playbook/lexicon.

So the onus isn't being put on the arbitrary and unjust laws of the setting of the world, but on the characters who dared to hope, to resist, but fail?

The narrative committed the horrible crime of being idealistic, so let's put on a sash with printed blocky letters of 'I'm being objective and realistic!' And critique a mc for daring to resist, fail, and not have the temerity to stay dead in a setting that has ghosts, supernatural animals, reincarnation, flying swords, and spells?

I feel like wwx would've been better received by this Western audience if he wasn't so... complex. I hate to say it, but I'd bet my last dollar that much of the disdain and dislike towards Wwx as a protagonist is that he (mdzs) challenges ppl's latent sexism. Ironically, from the canon jc tags, jc stans are the ones to attribute feminizing factors to Jc in an effort to leverage their defense.

[nightmare-of-homophobes]

It's funny how I saw your post now bc the same question crossed my mind some weeks ago and my general answer still is: I don't fucking know.

My young sister pointed out that her being a divination witch already makes her gay, but she did not give strong enough arguments to support her point.

Now, welcome to my monologue (From now on I'll just pour a mix of my unfiltered thoughts, interpretations of characters and headcanons in an answer while hoping that it'll make some sense or switch a light on your brain):

There's a lot of characteristics that as a whole makes me believe Lilia is a woman lover, tho I don't think any of them screams it (and I think this is the reason why I see/saw people around the fandom labeling Lilia as straight or ace or any other sexuality - what is up to each person, since her sexuality is not confirmed). Like, she's artistic, sassy and effortlessly gains other women trust/appreciation, but does any of those things sign her as gay immediately? I don't think so.

Maybe it's the fact that Lilia kinda tickles the mommy issues of not only the other witches (aka Alice and Agatha) of her coven but also of a good part of her fandom. Or, as someone said in the comments, the way she holds herself - her confidence, body language, expressions. Or her care for her coven, which she can't hold back from developing? Maybe.

But as I wrote this and kept searching in my mind for something that I could point out as "yes, this is certainly what makes Lilia a woman lover", I ended up returning to her backstory and to what my sister said.

Since the first episodes Lilia gave me queer vibes that I couldn't pinpoint why. She kinda always gave me that "single aunt that has been living with her roommate for the latest twenty years" vibes, but episode seven only clarified why those vibes.

Lilia and Agatha may be opposites but they're equally perfect material for queer subtext. Agatha has all her past with her mother while Lilia has her own with her coven. And both their stories revolve around power - and now let's think about power and being a witch in the whole as an allusion to queerness and self acceptance.

Lilia has contact with her powers at a really young age under the help of someone she trusts and love, but with the loss of this someone and now alone and afraid of which consequences her powers could bring, she prefers to hide it in herself and take a place in society where even if spotted as a weirdo she could still make a living. Late in her life she finally finds this specific group of misfits where she feels accepted and comfortable enough to accept back her powers and stop hiding herself from what she is.

We don't have to look too deep in our society to find real Lilias. People who only felt safe to come out late in their lives after hiding under comphet. Maybe we were Lilia at some point in our lives.

So, I know I kinda missed the point of the initial question and dived into a character analysis, but maybe what makes Lilia so queer is her being tragic - oh, god, I'm again putting people in the tragic gay stereotype.

Being a witch - and my sister was somehow right from the start.

But, mostly, by sharing women's experience. And here I'm mostly projecting myself on Lilia because I can't help but relate to her in a lot of ways.

Though I do not see or label myself as a woman, I lived under this term since I was born and I like to joke that I love women as a lesbian.

Trying to point out what gives out Lilia as a woman lover for me is trying to point out why I love women. I don't know, but by sharing the same experiences with women, learning about their struggles and force and getting to know their care and love... How could I not love women?

And here is where I fully project myself on the character because Lilia certainly went through a lot and saw a lot. She saw not only her sisters in the craft but also common women die, but she also saw them resisting and, century by century, getting stronger. She saw the good and bad sides of men and women. And at the end of it all, how could she not love women?

I hope that something in this too-long reply makes sense to you because my answers seem great in my mind, but messy when I write them in English (and they just create more questions in my own mind).

I've been banging my head on the wall for some minutes, and I need all Lilia lovers' help because my gaydar is not working today:

What is something that Lilia does that screams "woman lover" from a mile away?

[zelphin124]

SeasonTale - Chapter 7

TW: Slavery, sickness, abuse I'm not sure how much of this I'll continue. I don't think it'll be as good as my other writing, but I do hope to get all the lore out to you guys sometime. This is not me rejoining the UnderTale fandom. Masterpost

~o0o~

Papyrus was barely alive. 

Undye took it upon herself to protect his dying soul from dusting. The time that passed that week was all a blur to Spring, and his anger that he once felt quickly sunk into a deep despair as he could do nothing about the situation. 

The managers beat them ruthlessly, using their whips and fists to double their workload. The fire from the unhealthy habits of the factory only worsened the air quality. Each day, someone got sick, and they were beat for it. 

It didn’t make any sense to Spring!Sans. Why would they hurt someone for being sick? As far as he could tell, he couldn’t control when he felt unwell. 

Which was all the time, now. 

Spring held a small piece of bread in his hands as he stared at Spring!Papyrus, laying on a bed as his skull was half-dusted. Spring!Alphys held his soul together for hours. Spring thought he heard her and Undye conversing about the workload, with Undye doing twice as much so Alphys could keep Papyrus alive. 

His brother wasn’t breathing. He sat there, his bone slowly reforming and dusting as his chest barely moved. His soul didn’t beat, either. The white heart was clasped in another monster’s hands. Had Alphys let go, he would be nothing but a pile of dust. 

Spring glanced at the bread in his hands before he rested it in one of Papyrus’ hands. “You need it more than me,” he sighed, tears streaming down his face. “Please be okay, brother…” 

There was no reply. Spring!Alphys glanced at him with worry. “Kid, you need to eat that.” 

“I’m not hungry.” 

“That wasn’t a suggestion,” Sp!Alphys insisted. “Eat it.” 

There was another whip crack outside the room. Spring shook his head and gently crawled out of the space, trying not to be spotted by the whippers as he returned to his post, fiddling with the wires. 

Cries of pain and hopelessness echoed through the air, but they were often broken by the crack of whips. They were more prominent than usual, as if their work hours were not enough, they increased them, allowing little time for rest and food. More and more of the workers got sick. Spring had attended to most of them; Papyrus had taught him a thing or two about keeping people healthy, and no one was in these conditions. 

Slavery never allowed for such luxuries as health. 

Spring couldn’t help the tears that fell down his face as he thought of his brother. They fell onto the wires, quenching their sparks. It’s my fault... I’m the reason he’s almost dead... 

He listened closely to Spring!Temmie and Spring!Mettaton’s conversation. They talked about how the ‘big boss’ was coming today. They became hushed about the topic when Spring drew closer to listen in more. The only thing he caught was the big boss being a Gaster of sorts. 

Could it be the same one who sold him for a piece of bread? 

Perhaps the pressure of said inspection is what caused the whippers to be more hostile and picky with the work that was being done by their slaves. It was almost unreasonable and insane to expect better work in worse conditions, but there was no consideration of such a fact. 

Spring gently taped the wires together on the outside of another machine as he coughed the smoke out of his lungs. His hands and feet were hurting again. He was covered in black tar and ash. It burned his skin worse than the flames themselves. There was no time to clean up, however. He had spent his free time checking up on his brother, and he had to face said consequences.

This can’t be all there is... Spring wiped his face, feeling his stomach getting nauseous. He knew he was about to hurl. He stepped away from the wires and walked over to the edge of the platforms, resting his head over the edge as he vomited into the fire. For a solid minute, his stomach desperately tried to search for any nutrients, and when it found none, it shot the acid out of his mouth. 

Spring’s cries of pain were disturbing. He could hear some of his fellow slaves approaching him, but they were pushed aside as the familiar, horrifying steps of a whipper came along. “Get back to work, kid!” The monster grabbed Spring by the scruff and lifted him up, turning him to face him. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

Spring covered his mouth, trying to withhold another puke. No, please, not now—he couldn’t. His body gagged, and his vomit covered the whipper’s face as Spring coughed, tears streaming down his eyes. He looked at the whipper in horror as the goo ran down his face. What have I done? “I’m sorry, I’m sorry I—” 

“You imbecile!” The whipper threw Spring onto the hard pavement, scraping his face. He hurriedly tried to wipe the acid off his face in disgust, cracking his whip. “How dare you defile me?!” 

The whip cracked against Spring’s skull. He cried out in pain as he curled up on the floor, trying to block the whips. Instead of his face, the whips struck his hand, ripping the bones apart as the whipper continued. Blood poured out from them, and Spring whimpered, unable to put his pain into words or a cry for help. 

The whippings suddenly stopped as a loud thud could be heard. Spring hesitantly looked up through the water building up in his skull. 

Spring!Muffet had just punched the whipper in the face. 

She looked at her hands as if she couldn’t believe what she had just done, but that didn’t stop her words from snapping at the abuser. “Pick on someone your own size!” She dared to say. “You’re pathetic for picking on a helpless child! Be a man and choose someone stronger than he!” 

Spring’s eyes widened in fear as he reached out to her. “Muffet, no—” 

The whipper clearly did not find her challenge amusing. He stood up, grunting as rage fumed in his eyes. He cracked his whip to the side. “Own size, eh? Someone like you, then? You know what happens to challengers like you, right?” 

Spring!Muffet’s eyes widened as she raised her hands into fists, all six of them. “To fight for a kid’s life, yes.” 

The whipper raised his whip. It was as if time had gone in slow motion as he slowly brought it down on the monster that saved Spring—

BOOM!

A bright flash of light filled the air. There was a strong gust of wind, sending the whipper flying into the lava below, screaming all the way down. Muffet was also blasted back, barely catching onto one of the railings. Spring was pushed into the wire system, grunting as he tried to stand up, but his hands hurt too much. 

Before him, in the direction that caused a blast, was a bright, white fire. It burned the wood nearby as if it were the sun itself. Who walked out of the fire was someone Spring had never seen. It was too difficult to see, but she looked like Toriel, a similar, shorter type of goat. Her gaze was flat, and she walked with grace. Everything about her glowed like starlight, something Spring had only heard about until now. 

The shouts of the whippers were blurred. They yelled about the hole in the factory before charging at the intruder. “It’s her!” one of the muffled shouts rang through Spring’s ears. “Kill her!” 

One by one, the goat slayed every person that dared to come her way. Despite being hit with some of the whips, they disintegrated on touch. Her hands were surrounded by a white fire, and when she fired at the whippers, they turned into ash immediately. Dozens of them swarmed her, but they were no match for her skills. 

Behind her came a large dragon. It was white, with long eyes, and its head shaped like a gaster blaster. It munched on any whipper or opposer that approached the goat. It was as if it was made from starlight itself. Its gaze turned toward everyone else, turning around to reveal someone on his back. 

Spring’s eyes widened as he observed the little skeleton on the back of the dragon. He… He looks like me. 

The battle waged on, but it was something Spring was in too much pain to notice. He glanced up one more time to find the slaves cheering at some proclamation the white goat gave. She gently approached Spring as everyone rushed out of the factory. 

“Little one,” her voice was more soothing than a thousand ice packs. “Come with me; let me nourish you back to health.” 

Spring weakly looked up at her, his body trembling in pain. He couldn’t form words as the white fire that burned the factory blinded his sight. He reached out his hand, trembling. “B-Brother…” 

“Spring!Papyrus, will be alright. Come with me; you are being rescued and set free.” 

Spring felt her hands wrap around him as she hoisted him up over her shoulder. He didn’t resist as he watched more whippers being reduced to ash. Something about the sight eased his mind, as if they were getting what they deserved. 

The goat climbed up onto the large dragon, saddling it as if she rode it. She held Spring in front next to the other little guy. “Hold on,” she commanded before taking the reigns and flying off. 

Spring watched as the factory went out of sight, getting smaller and smaller as the dragon ascended into the sky he had never seen. His eyes widened in wonder, resting on the beauty of the world before him. The sun greeted him willingly, and suddenly, his soul felt lighter and more at ease. 

Spring had felt hope. 

His hands trembled as he held onto a lower part of the reigns. It took a moment for him to process what was happening, but the cool air felt so good against his skin, he never wanted to leave it. He turned his gaze to the other small skeleton in front of him. The little guy had bruises and thin, snowflake eyes. He was staring right back at Spring the entire time the dragon flew off into the air under the cover of the clouds. He nodded slowly. “Greetings.” 

Spring stared back at him in awe, as if he were looking at himself in a mirror, but a different version of him. Everything was so new, he didn’t know how to process anything that was going on. 

But that didn’t stop him from being polite. His hand trembled as he lifted it in greeting. 

“H-Hello…”

[mortemlifeness]

I saw information about Sandrone's character and died. Her character is interesting, yes, but I'm afraid she will meet Ayaka and Firefly's fate. Don't turn her into yandere for Protagonist (Aether), please no.

[tea-cat-arts]

You know what, I've read enough fanfic. I'm confiscating Madame Yu from you guys

Free my girl- she did the things she's being accused of, but not as frequently or severely as the fandom pretends, her actions are being taken out of context, and her depth is being reduced to that of a Colleen Hoover antagonist

[starry-eyer]

Why do you think the tides have slightly turned from "Elia deserves better than Rhaegar" to shipping her and Rhaegar together? Like what is the psychology behind these people because I've seen some of them like/reblog anti Rhaegar posts while also shipping Rhaegar x Elia at the same time.

hey anon! my thoughts are a bit messy, but i’ve done my best to explain them coherently :)

so, rhaegar was the best man anyone could have when elia was alive, and most people want the best for their favs. he was considered the most handsome, didn’t have a bad personality, and he was crown prince—meaning elia was almost queen, which is often seen as the greatest role a woman can have. the narrative also treats rhaegar as a beautiful, tragic, haunting figure, and elia actually had this very aesthetically pleasing man all to herself at one point! she was married to him, had children with him, and her life was so close to perfect! but rhaegar just had to go and ruin it. 😠

for many elia stans, if rhaegar hadn’t fallen in love with another woman (they want him to have been a completely different character), then everything would’ve been perfect, and elia would’ve had the best, most desirable life. however, that’s not what happened—elia met a very tragic end, and as a result, these stans feel double the bitterness. because of this bitterness, they blame rhaegar for everything (even though it’s not logical to do so), but he’s just too ‘perfect’ to let go of. so, for years these stans have made rhaegar revolve around elia, filling his tag with posts about her out of bitterness. so, i do believe that this obsession with rhaegar x elia has always been there, but i think it’s become a more favorable stance on the elia stan side of the fandom because of a mix of reasons.

plus, rhaegar is one of the few canon relationships we know elia had, since she’s not much of a character. because of this, and the fact that most people don’t like to stray too far from canon, most elia stans are forced to focus on rhaegar, which has created an echo chamber. basically, if a sentiment about elia and rhaegar’s relationship becomes popular, then the whole elia stan side of the fandom will likely regurgitate the sentiment. (also, this desire to stick close to canon is likely why the elia x arthur ship was so popular. while it’s a total crack ship, it had good aesthetics, and since elia and arthur at least knew each other, it allowed the stans to create their perfect fanfiction whilst sticking it to rhaegar. but remember, elia was actually married to rhaegar and had children with him, so while arthur is cool, rhaegar was always ‘top dog,’ meaning arthur would never be able to match up to rhaegar to most elia stans. also, the arthur x elia crack ship is likely her second most popular ship, which just shows how little elia stans have to work with, so they’re always forced to eventually return back to rhaegar for a lot of things.)

however, even if the elia x rhaegar ship gains more popularity, these stans will never stop hating rhaegar because he wasn’t ‘perfect’—and he wasn’t perfect because he didn’t love elia. plus, rhaegar loving another woman and supposedly kidnapping her is what began the war that led to elia’s tragic death. that’s bitterness times 1000. and while i don’t actually blame rhaegar for the war, i do think that this is how an elia stan sees it. i also don’t view rhaegar’s complex relationship with elia as a bad thing—it’s actually a very realistic take on an arranged marriage between two decent people. but most elia stans will never be able to get over the fact that they almost had everything, which is why many have it out for lyanna, as they consider her a thief who ruined their ‘perfection.’

tbh, that might be why so many elia stans are so obsessed with the idea that rhaegar only got with lyanna because of the prophecy—they don’t want to believe that rhaegar actually loved a different woman and not their perfect self insert elia. that’s a bit mean of me… but i don’t know what else one would call the ‘elia’ elia stans have created.

now that i’ve laid all those thoughts out, i’ll try to explain why the tides seem to be turning… i think it may have something to do with the ‘targaryens are all evil and bad’ sentiment losing popularity. i think this shift has occurred due to a mix of factors, such as years of fandom fights and fandom cycles leading to the targs being more liked now than before. it helps that canon doesn’t actually condemn the targs/favors them quite a bit, and the influx of new targ fans from HOTD has also contributed. this combination of reasons seems to have shifted the way the mainstream fandom discusses all the targaryen characters, including rhaegar. so, with this shift, it’s only natural that some elia stans/elia x rhaegar shippers—who’ve always been there—are using this opportunity to push their agenda. while these stans still hate rhaegar and see him as the bad guy, they just can’t let go of him. and as the mainstream fandom moves away from the anti targaryen sentiment, these smaller corners of the fandom, which tend to be echo chambers, are also affected, which has therefore led to a rise in rhaegar x elia shippers and the ‘shifting tide’ that you’ve also noticed.

[two-entire-bits]

I have a confession. I do not care for the soc boys. I'm sure they have very interesting character traits and lore the actors and fandom have come up with and that is so fun and great and I know none of it and I am perfectly content with that. Shout out to all my mutuals who love the soc boys I hope you are having fun with your Ken dolls but I will not be joining you. keep slaying.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

The fandom can't make up its mind on what's supposed to be a joke and what's supposed to be serious because the show can't either half the time. It's a tonally disjointed mess that wants to have absurd over-the-top humor as well as a plot and moments of drama, romance, and angst that demand you see the characters as people and feel for what they're going through. Except you can't do that without also treating the dumb bullshit in a somewhat grounded way. Like, you're still dealing with the same characters. You can't just go "Oh, that? Let's ignore that!" the moment it's no longer convenient to you. You've opened this can of worms and now you have to sleep in it. So, every character flip-flops between two different versions of themselves depending on what the writers need in any particular scene.

This is not to say surreal humor can't be used right alongside characters you're supposed to empathize with, Teen Titans (not Go) did that and it worked. It's just that the absurdity can only come from the setting (Mad Mod, Mother Mae-Eye, pretty much anything Control Freak is in) or from designated joke characters (Date With Destiny). Teen Titans never had the main characters acting in clearly absurd ways as the butt of a joke unless those characters were brainwashed somehow, because the writers knew that would ruin any of the more grounded moments they wanted to write. The writers of Miraculous missed the memo on that one.

I don't disagree. A perfect example is Derision where the show takes all of the bad jokes about Marinette's crush and decides to take them seriously as if you can possible take them seriously without making Marinette come across as unhinged and dangerous. You can't, which brings us to the topic at hand: how do you even begin to understand these characters when the show is constantly making character-breaking choices?

My approach - and the approach I recommend others take if they're going to keep watching the show - is to focus on the characters' cores and reject anything canon does to violate those cores. I don't argue for this stance because I love the characters so much that I only want the good things to count. I take this stance because, if you don't, then the characters fall apart. There is no way to make them work as fully realized characters while embracing every choice canon has made. Miraculous has massive characterization issues that go well beyond the humor.

For example, Adrien has multiple moments of terrible behavior that are played in a serious manner such as the moment in the episode Frozer where he tries to start a fight with Ladybug in the middle of an akuma attack because she wouldn't accept a rose from him earlier:

Setup

Ladybug: I can't accept this rose from you. I told you already. I'm in love with someone else. Cat Noir: I know, M'lady. But if he weren't here, would things be different between us? Ladybug: Well, you know, I can't even begin to imagine him not being here. I'm sorry, Cat Noir. I really gotta get going, and you better do the same. (Swings her yo-yo to head back home; Cat Noir is sad, looking downwards, with one petal of the rose falling.)

Payoff

Ladyice: Cat Noir. We need to set up a trap for whoever turned the city into a giant ice rink. (throws yo-yo) Icecat: (bitterly) My feline instincts prefer to track and observe before I attack. You go your way, I'll go mine. Ladyice: Please don't tell me you're mad at me about the rose. Icecat: There may be a certain chill now between us. Ladyice: I get it, but we should really focus on saving Paris right now. Icecat: We don't always have to do everything together, after all. It's not like we're a couple. (skates away)

There's no way to argue this off as a bad joke. While Adrien has every right to feel hurt, those feelings don't excuse him acting like a pouting child in the middle of an akuma fight. It doesn't excuse him acting like this at any point! Ladybug is not a villain for telling him no. She wasn't even mean about it!

I clearly fully agree that Adrien looks awful and selfish here, but I'd still argue that it's not something that should be used to define Adrien's character if your goal is to tell the "ideal" version of Miraculous. "Ideal" being the version that canon seems to be going for based on the overall picture we can sort of make out if we back way, way, way up and look at the extremely abstract picture canon is clumsily painting.

Unless canon is going to do something monumentally stupid, Adrien is Marinette's endgame romantic interest. It's also clear that there is no plan to cut him from the team. He's going to be Chat Noir for the rest of his life or at least well into his adulthood. This means that he is supposed to be a good hero who deserves his miraculous just like he's supposed to be a charming and cute romantic lead. These are the two things I keep in mind when trying to shift through canon to figure out what writing choices I should fully embrace and what writing choices I have to either ignore or treat as true flaws that get an actual character arc. In my book, either approach is fine because most of the characters are deeply flawed at this point and you can't give them all arcs without bloating the story to nonsense levels.

My goal with this approach is never to say, "oh, that moment shouldn't count in terms of how people feel about the character." It's more, "that moment goes so hard against who this character is very clearly supposed to be that I can't take it into account if I want to tell the kind of story that Miraculous is trying (and clearly failing) to tell."

As an example, let's list off Adrien's worst behaviors. The things that make him look terrible:

He sucks at communicating his needs and feelings, leading to multiple moments where he gets mad at Ladybug for things she's totally unaware of

He has quit or considered quitting without warning multiple times and only one of those was because of something he did "wrong" (NYC Special)

He puts his feelings before the safety of Paris on multiple occasions, even going so far to purposely miss akuma fights to see what happens

He is incredibly pushy about his crush, often ignoring Ladybug's feelings on the topic by continuing to bring it up even after she asked him to stop

There have been multiple instances where he almost cataclysmed multiple people in a fit of anger

His love for Ladynette isn't strong enough to let him break free of things like akumas and nightmare dust even when he's looking her in the eyes making him a pretty crappy romantic lead

People will argue that some of this behavior makes sense for his character because of the abuse that canon has technically introduced, but that the writers seem blissfully unaware of. I don't disagree with that argument, but that doesn't change the fact that none of this is acceptable behavior for a hero and Adrien is a hero who keeps doing these things. A sad backstory doesn't give you the right to behave poorly without consequences.

At the same time, if I fully embrace these elements of canon, what I get is an Adrien salt fic where he loses his miraculous for good while Marinette finds her real true love or even just a non-salty fic where Adrien leaves for his own meatal health and gets replaced by someone who can handle being a hero right now. Canon's not writing either of those, so the only way to engage with these flaws while enjoying canon or aiming for the same end goals as canon is to say, "I guess this doesn't count" or "I guess I need to tone this way down and work through it via a character arc" or even "I guess that was just a bad joke maybe?"

That is the essence of what I mean when I call myself a writing salt, character sugar blog. It comes from looking at canon and seeing that there's simply no way to embrace the worst moments and the best at the same time. We're not dealing with a coherent plot and/or complex characters. We're dealing with a nonsense plot that will warp the characters to bizarre shapes to make random ideas work even if those idea go wildly against canon's end goals.

As an example, Glaciator and Frozer should not exist in the same universe or, at the very least, something should explain why Chat Noir randomly changed his stance on Ladybug's crush from acceptance to pushiness. As is, the pieces don't fit together. The behavior is too contradictory. Remember, this is how Glaciator ends:

Perhaps Ladybug will love me someday. I mean, like, I love her. I have to believe. In the meantime, her friendship is the best gift of all.

Where did this version of Adrien go? Why did he regress in Frozer? There's no in-universe reason. It happened because the writers weren't ready to let the love square date or grow close, but they also wanted the love square to cause drama, so Adrien ends up looking terrible just like Marinette ends up looking terrible when it's her turn to cause love square drama. Her terribleness takes a different flavor so it can be hard to realize that this is a systemic issue, but that's what it is. It's deeply frustrating, but it also clearly stems from cheap writing and not quality characterization.

This is also why my stance is that canon as a whole only supports my Doyalistic core-character analysis style of approach. The writing is too poor quality to do Watsonian analysis where you embrace the full picture and try to put it all together. The closest I'll get to Watsonian analysis is pointing out how much the writing botches a Watsonian take by showing you all the way the writing contradicts itself, twisting into a nonsense pretzel of frustration where the payoffs never satisfy! (See the season four rant for an example or anything where I talked about Chloe's supposed damnation arc.)

There are even characters where canon is such a total mess that you can Doyalistically argue for two separate takes! Gabriel is a perfect example. He is all over the place and his ending was so poorly handled that you can make strong arguments for writing him as a cold-hearted villain or a sympathetic villain without the end result feeling like it spits in the face of canon because both takes maintain his one core element: villain.

That's the big thing I keep in mind when I look at the characters and the lore and the plots and try to come up with versions that the average fan would like. I don't think that there's one true version of any of these things, but I do feel comfortable saying that there are versions that will very clearly only appeal to people who are salty about a specific thing that canon did poorly. That's not who I want to appeal to in my adaptions, so while I'm not going to argue that those takes have no backing in canon, I will argue that those takes are not supported by canon as a whole. Embracing them requires you to take the worst parts of canon at face value while ignoring what canon is clearly trying to do with the overall story.

I get the appeal of that, but it's not fun for me because that approach feels like rolling around in the mud with the pigs. I don't want to sink to canon's level! I want to have fun! That's why I talk about how to make canon into its best self, not its worst self. If you want its worst self, just go watch the actual show. I will be shocked it if disappoints you.

[hyperfixationsposting]

an immortal bisexual witch and the cute lesbian butcher she may or may not have hooked up with once or twice :))

[butwhatifidothis]

Still baffled that Hopes so blatantly wrote Claude as the typical Evil Vaguely Middle Eastern Man set on destroying the Good White Nation for his Evil Vaguely Middle Eastern Nation that is often seen in fantasy settings - complete with him being seen as worse than a white woman who does many of the same evil deeds he does in-verse, even by his friends (should it be the bad ending route of SB) - and so many in the fandom were so eager to gobble that shit up. INSIST that "Clearly A Racist Stereotype" is LEAGUES better than "Subversion Of A Racist Stereotype" even. Like I don't think I'll ever get over how supremely fucked that is

[thedeadestmeme]

you mean. i'm supposed to believe that there's a slight possibility that Marcille isn't in love with Falin. i feel like that possibility may exist in the same world that Achilles and Partoclus aren't in love. believe as you will, but that sounds like the world where Destiel isn't canon.

[kinun]

Celestia...?