#I think if people watched the live action like it was a good fanfic rather than a 1:1 adaptation they'd enjoy it more

[rayraytail]

I'm 80% sure that the ATLA live action writers are fanfic readers/writers.

[avelera]

Ok, I feel like there's three writing concepts that Tumblr needs to get reacquainted with when it comes to understanding fiction:

Catharsis - Sometimes, fiction engages with horrifying, disgusting, painful, or scary concepts in order to bring about a positive experience for the reader. This can be through the hero defeating a disgusting evil, like defeating an abuser for example. One might also get catharsis not out of the defeat of something bad or uncomfortable, but simply from the experience of living it vicariously, such as joy at successfully hiding the body of a murder victim. There are literally countless examples of catharsis in fiction, but most importantly it must be understood, it is completely harmless to real people whether you're experiencing catharsis at something good happening or something bad happening that you get to live vicariously because it is literally fiction. Indeed, there's a lot of evidence that getting to experience catharsis through fiction at evil things, say, living vicariously through a fictional character committing adultery, even if you would never want to cheat on your own partner, actually helps purge the desire to do evil things oneself.

Pleasures of the genre - some genres have expectations that go with them. If you, as a writer, don't include those pleasures, you might turn off the audience. For example, the Western genre has a certain expectation of being set in the 19th c American West. There's usually cowboys and horses involved. If you write a story that's advertised as a "Western" that takes place entirely in a New York City apartment, it might be novel for the genre, but it might also piss off a bunch of readers who were expecting horses. You can do it, obviously, but don't be surprised if readers are confused and perhaps disinterested in the work. More salient to Tumblr perhaps - Marvel believes it is creating action/adventure superhero stories. If a Marvel movie suddenly became a psychological exploration of the internality of a character's relationships, without a single laser beam or fight scene in sight, Marvel expects its audience to be confused and unhappy. We, as fanfic writers and readers might be dying for that story, but that is not the pleasure of the genre that Marvel thinks its audience wants when it walks specifically into a superhero film.

Power Fantasy - this might be one of the most misunderstood or perhaps narrowly applied terms. Yes, sometimes a power fantasy is a 16 year old boy watching a superhero dude with 8 pack abs destroy the bad guy, get the girl, and save the day. Living vicariously through that character is definitely a power fantasy. BUT, a power fantasy can also be fantastical things that the audience wishes would happen in a way that would empower an audience member or make them happy. For example, a billionaire industrialist merchant of death like Tony Stark getting hit by his own weapons and deciding to become a crusader for justice in a way that actually helps normal people is, in fact, an audience power fantasy. We want to believe that if the right bad guy like a billionaire got the right comeuppance like a near-death experience at the hands of their own evils, they'd learn their lesson and become a better person. This is a power fantasy. This is not a thing that actually happens. It's honestly not that different from the power fantasy many gun owners have that if they own a gun, they're more likely to stop a crime in progress with their perfect marksmanship, rather than that they're more likely to kill or be killed by a member of their own family. Understanding the application of power fantasies in terms of good things you hope would happen happening in fiction is not only important for dissecting fiction as an intelligent viewer, it's also important in terms of recognizing when you're being influenced by certain stories and choosing what lesson you take away from it and what lesson (if any) you want to take away from it.

I just feel like these 3 terms are what I see most lacking in a lot of "discourse". Fiction is trying to engender emotion in the audience. Great fiction engenders a wide range of emotions in the viewer, not simply good emotions. Thoughtful fiction might (but not always!) try to impart a lesson. But great fiction can also just want to give you great emotions and make you think outside the usual box of your usual experiences. It's also completely fine for great fiction to just want to give you a great emotion experience like catharsis, or the thrill of a power fantasy. And I really wish these three separate but interrelated concepts were discussed more when it comes to dissecting fiction here on this site.

[absolutebl]

Pit Babe - it's time for a Trash Watch!

I had to. Well, no I didn't, but COME ON. It's like Thailand is negging me. Let's burn rubber, shall we? Burn rubbers...?

The things I had been told going in about this show:

it's about car racing (this bores me)

it stars Pavel (my BL ult bias, he is my icon for a reason)

it started as an omegaverse y-novel but the A/B/O aspects would be stripped from the BL series

it's high heat

(There some chatter about whether point 3 was a mistranslation of something the author said, but don't bother me with trifles.)

Here's a definition of omegaverse:

Omegaverse, also known as A/B/O (alpha/beta/omega), is a subgenre of speculative erotic fiction, and originally a subgenre of erotic slash fan fiction. Its premise is that a dominance hierarchy exists in humans, which are divided into dominant "alphas", neutral "betas", and submissive "omegas".[1] This hierarchy determines how people interact with one another in romantic, erotic and sexual contexts.[2] (Wikipedia)

In my experience and opinion, omegaverse archetypes and tropes are often used to strip out female characters (and The Feminine) and as a tool to excuse extreme hyper-masculine behaviors without a critical feminist lens (leading to lazy characterization). Just as heat is an excuse to get nkd quickly, A/O/B is often an excuse for taboo and dubious consent actions and behaviors. Do I get why writers/readers enjoy it? Yes I do. Do I personally like it? Not particularly. (Although there are always exceptions.)

Putting all that aside, the above represents my foundational knowledge before Pit Babe started.

Oh and that the familiar BL faces appearing in this show were follows:

Pavel Naret (aka Pavel Phoom) from 2 Moons 2 & Coffee Melody - Pavel is a fluent English speaker, a bit of a drama monger, and a motorcycle rider/car-dude, this role suits him

Nut Supanut from Oxygen & Something in My Room - has an amazing voice, his somewhat wooden acting has improved steadily since Oxygen

Pon Thanapon - one of Star Hunter's stable first seen in the Gen Y series (where he stole the appeal of an intended pair), also v good in Make a Wish, I wish he'd get a lead role as he has a likable screen presence

Pop Pataraphol from La Cuisine - he's playing the Alpha rival and I'm not convinced he's suited to this role

Michael Kiettisak from Love Sick, Oxygen, Call it What You Want, Till the World Ends - playing the comic relief this time rather than his usual tortured stoic... huh

All the rest are either fresh faces or older experienced actors. Interesting mix. They must have some money behind this.

And now, get out your marshmallows! The dumpster is on fire! Let's start the roast.

Episode 1 - Platypus, Pickles, Pavel, & other Smoking Hot Problems

This first segment told with a 4 day retrospect, because I decided to do a trash watch only after @aliceisathome said I should.

My initial reaction:

the sheer audacity of Thailand being like "PitBabe is not omegaverse" and then serving "Alpha" to us on a platter in the first sex scene is

how dare

but also

what the actual fuck is going on? what world are we living in where a/b/o is LIVE ACTION ON OUR SCREENS?

we getting heat, knotting & mpreg next?

apparently this is my reality now

I'm not sure what weird quantum time stream I've jumped into but someone was all,

yes the whole world is hella screwed, but also...

Thailand has decided live action mm fanfic is gonna win it the culture wars

and I'm beginning to think they may be right

BL is now the platypus of the film industry

4 days later:

Considering how much chatter this caused there's a part of me that wondered if it was all intentional and a marketing ploy (to say it wasn't omegaverse when obviously it is). In which case... brilliant Machiavellian tactics, production.

But Thai studios are rarely this calculated in their promo. So I think it's all accidental. But it certainly caused a raucous few days on Tumblr.

On a completely different note, Babe's house looks like it started life as a particularly inventive Olive Garden. Or is that just me?

More random thoughts:

Pavel has had work done, why honey? You were the definition of perfect.

The smell thing is great, I love stuff to do with scent and necks. If omegaverse brings this to the table, fine. But...

Being all Alpha perfect butch manly man = I do not like Babe at all, I kinda want him to be brought down a peg. (Woo... pegging!) I never like narratives that glorify the captain of the football team (side eyes Cdrama CEO romances and Love O2O), Babe better have depth and damage (forget the pegging) of some kind or his behavior will get old FAST, faster than he drives (also, forget the pegging idea)

Nut is ideal in the Beta role. I mean, that's Way's character right? We all can see that. If it's not intentional, it's a miscast. I love how soft he is as as screen presence. He's great in this part.

None of the other characters are sticking out to me yet, but I'm prepared to love the side dishes in this, please make them swoon worthy!

I'm glad they didn't hold the Charlie = trickster reveal off, I like knowing he is a double agent up front.

Finally, with respect to an adequate trash watch, I'm in a pickle.

How am I going to drink for this show when there is so much else airing on Frigay? I can't keep track, if I'm drunk.

I need a strategy for this trash fire if the puns and snark are to spout forth! (HA Fourth!)

Controlled burn?

Anygay, see you all next week.

Episode 2 - Side Dish Addiction + Second Lead Syndrome are both infecting me at once

[FYI I gotta have my backup computer to watch this so that's why Imma sometimes be delayed getting the trash out to the curb.]

3 minutes! 3 minutes in and I needed to pause and wax snarkful. (Ouch, bet that hurts. Is waxing snark similar to a Brazilian but for BL? Is that why they all so hairless in The Sign?... I digress, where was I?)

Okay so the subber said Daddy but I don't think that word means what they think it means. Because Way said simply nong paa.

Usually they'll use the English word Daddy (pronounced Dah-deee) for, ya know, Actual Daddies (tm).

Wait wait:

Calling Daddy Actual

(My dumb sci-fi loving arse will see myself out the back before I start drawing Battlestar Galactica = Pit Babe connections. TOO FAR ABL. Too far.)

Look, I like the tension in this show. It's good to set up an unlikeable Alpha dog and then immediately turn him into an underdog, makes him a bit more likable. I still don't like Babe, but now at least I'm on his side.

Charlie = cute but v sus. Fortunately for him, Babe = cute but v thick.

Everyone calls Charlie Babe's dek. Yes sounds a bit like what you think but also means kid/child and SHOULD be translated as boy in this show. Why doesn't the subber get that? They a sub...ber after all. (I'll see myself out.)

Honestly, the script writers might know what they are doing with abo but our eng sub translator sadly does NOT. I'm so glad this is coming now in my BL watching life. When my ear and knowledge of Thai is so much better than it once was. Others much be SO CONFUSED.

Snicker. They just fucking with us, but it's fun to watch the mpeg speculation abound.

File this one under: Thailand's trouble with ESL plurals and also "you should have Pavel helping with these subs" sweethearts.

Production knows entirely what it's doing with this show and its omegaverse shizz (even if the subber doesn't) and I am very much enjoying the online carnage that results.

This dumpster fire continues off screen into the blogosphere and I continue to roast things over it.

Meanwhile, hi Pon! You so adorable! When you gonna lead out a BL for us?

Is Idol Factory stealing all of Star Hunter's talent? Are they the Red Racers of the BL world? These are the questions I ask myself as I watch this.

Is that AGE GAP I smell before me?

Is the 20 yr old college kid meant for the pit boss? Cause you all know I am a slut for age gaps.

Moment of a/b/o: Jeff's fear of touch/heightened personal space would be a plot marker for "baby doesn't want Alphas close cause he smells like an omega" but of course this show it not omegaverse. Not omegaverse at all.

nuh-uh

Linguistic corner!

Lung (sounds a bit like loo) is uncle(ish) it means basically a male relation older than phi. So Alan is the oldest in the crew.

Alan calls Jeff nu (which the subber translated as boy I would have gone with cutie or little one). Nu is a diminutive affectionate term that's technically gender neutral but is most often used by/on cute girls/women. Jeff did NOT like it. Then Alan sort of dodges through pronouns/particles settling on phi for I, ger for you, and ja for a particle. This is interesting because ger & ja kinda lower his age and status into a casual sphere. Not more intimate more equal to jeff... fascinating.

I love the new "Korean" red racer, he drinks my brand of soy milk. He is now my baby snake in the grass.

Get it? Snake.

He and Babe should end up together.

The fight wasn't bad, do both actors have kickbox training in their backgrounds?

Who am I kidding, I care only about Uncle Alan and Nu Jeff now. All others are irrelevant to me.

Also...

WHERE IS A BOY FOR WAY?!!! Or a Daddy. I do not care. (Methinks nether does he.)

I am now captain of the Way Appreciation Society. Let's all find a way... to get him some dick.

Also the BTS stingers are tons of fun. Looks like the set was a blast.

Finally, and I mean this kindly. Why isn't Noh Phouluang in this? He should have been cast as Winner. Bah. I'm biased.

But one should be with Noh.

Episode 3 - Side Dishes Delux

Gayest bridge n Thailand has made its obligatory appearance.

How much do I love uncle & nu? They are SO damn cute. Also nu flustered is the best kind of nu.

I could not care less about Babe and Charlie. Except I do love the smell thing.

Way will break my heart by getting his broken. He is right tho.

Tra la la. I feel like this is a bit like KP 2.0.

Charlie is a such a princess (and ace manipulator). Good thing Babe clearly likes being buttered up.

Babe's backstory was more interesting than I expected, I didn't think we would go so far into the paranormal side of a/b/o. I like it and I hope they lean into it quite a bit more. Make it part of the plot.

Unlike the kissing thing which seems to have been gotten over rather quickly.

I gotta say I'm enjoying the corporate sponsorship jockeying and tension more than I thought I would. I'm curious as to who Jef and Charlie are working for and what their motivation is. The plot itself is keeping me intrigued and that is rare for me with BL.

So no trash talk this ep, I was largely absorbed and entertained. I didn't event need booze. Shocking behavior on my part.

#giveWayaboy2023

Episode 4 - I (who never ship) am shipping the impossible

Here’s the thing. I just want this to be a better story than it is. Right now it’s kind of like a soap opera. I don’t hate lakorn, I really don't. To Sir With Love is a glorious chewing of the diamanté scenery (completed with death glitter). But...

If this is gonna be a soap opera it needs to lean into the messy side more than the tailored high concept side. Support characters and evil needs more screen time.

Instead, right now, I don’t know where I am with this show because it doesn't know where it wants to be. I’m kind of dangling in the middle of a dirty situation. It’s uncomfortable for me, and the show feels uncomfortable for the performers. 

Also... I have questions.

Yes, of course I want to know what Charlie & Jeff are up to. Why can Jeff see the future?

But more importantly I NEED to know why Babe has a flying saucer bed?

That kind of lighting makes nobody look good, especially not at that angle. It’s very traumatic and I’m not wild about the shag rug either. I have concerns about Babe's taste. I guess is what I am saying. 

On a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT note:

There’s absolutely no chemistry to justify this, but I have decided that I am going to personally advocate for, and ship, Way and the interloping not-really-Korean. They are both sort of own-moral-code types. I have tiny crush on Kim, and Nut is the prettiest, and Way is Best Boy so there it is, I would like them to hook up, please & thank you.

#giveWay2Kim2023

Arrow guy is cute, too. Will we get to see him bone?

Is he going to be another one of the adopted alpha super-kid pets?

What the hell, throw Arrow Boy a bone! All hot boys in BLs deserve bones.

Plot thickens.

Hah.

Thickens.

(I am an immature idiot.)

Episode 5 - wait wait way-t, can arrow boy have Way?

Look, BLabies, I didn’t get any screen caps this episode because frankly there wasn’t anything worth capturing.

I guess Charlie really does love Babe? Very dramatic if idiotic saving from the burning car. But Babe has gone to the broken Alpha place of extremely unlikeablability (frankly he was almost there at the start). If I were Charles B Spectacled I would be OUT by now. 

Is that?

NO.

Don't get the plastic bowl.

No white towel sponge bath. Please kill this trope.  

I mean, it's not as bad as singing, but that's because NOTHING is as bad as singing in a Thai BL.

AND the main boys are back together.

I don’t find their relationship or Babe’s lack of senses a particularly interesting aspect of the plot.

Unless, of course, Babe is pregnant and that's why he lost his Alpha sniffer.

BUT I do love the sides.

Jeff = the introvert precog who can’t/wont do people and Alan = the extrovert people person who WANTS but doesn’t understand him. 

Were Jeff and Charlie ALSO raised by Evil Daddy MacEvilPants? 

I liked the way Arrow CEO & Way looked at each other. Way, hon, give up on Babe (he sucks) and get thyself a billionaire bf with great aim and BDE.

On a completely different note, the best thing about this show is the blooper reel. That thing with the green smoothie going down his pants was hilarious!

In conclusion, this was a green smoothie down the pants episode. I was entertained, and it’s probably gonna be good for the plot in retrospect, but it was kind of squishy and unpleasant at the time.

Episode 6 - Are they actually listening to us now? Is Tumblr bugged?

This was a fun ep full of like actual racing and shizz.

Whatever.

Charlie is on the team now. All the teams, apparently.

Can we talk about Jeff and Alan?

The apology scene! Did you hear that Alan dropped to chan/ger? Eeeee!!! So cute. (He equalized their relationship in a soft way.)

Get it with that language play hottie. Next up: lengua play.

Please & thank you. 

Meanwhile, as all of the Internet knows, they went fully in for omegaverse - no bars.

I have to say, one of the greatest typos (or whatever) in existence is enigma instead of omega.

That's where I personally would rank in the omegaverse.

Hello, my gender is... enigma.

 Apparently it's a/b/o and sometimes e!  Also sometimes switch-ee 

Oh I'm very proud of myself with that one.

Funfunfun

Charlie. Babes. When a man asks to be thrown up against the wall. You throw him against that wall.

OMG is that arrow boy looking at Way in the bar?

3 seconds later.

Noooo.

Wait come back.

Noooooo.

That’s what I actually want to watch! 

OMG. Who said nu was the first step to teelak?

I flipping love Alan. 

Ah the boyfriend ep. Thank you, but I still don't trust Charlie.

Poor Way.

But nice crying jag, and I don’t say that often in Thai BL.

Now let him go, Way.

A boy with his arrows is waiting. 

(source)

Note for the future: tumblr has a bug that stops allowing edits after a certain time/number, thus my full trash often occur in 2 segments as a result. Click on the "abl trash watches bl" tag for the full thing if you're reading this and later episodes are missing.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

The Current event makes me smile since it kind of confirms a headcanon I had that the Great Seven have animated movies based on them. Makes me wonder about the plot of the movies

Disney should get on the Twisted Wonderland AU Animated Remakes. What is Ursula was a good witch, what if Scar was right to take the throne and did he take it from Mufasa? (Or whoever is the stand in for him)

The Evil/Beautiful Queen...actually GOOD?

Yeah, it makes sense! Since the Great Seven are historical figures and the stuff of legends, surely there would be popular media made in their image. It’s like how the Disney fairy tales borrow from stories in the public domain or how there are historical retellings and reinventions (Hamilton, anyone?).

I believe TWST has mentioned films based on their own stories and history before too, but purely in the animated sense rather than live action. In book 3, Ace and one of the Atlantica Museum guards talk about an animated movie based on the tale of the mermaid princess and her prince; this movie is said to have come out ~30 years ago, which corresponds with Disney’s animated The Little Mermaid. Ace compliments the movie’s soundtrack too way to stroke your own ego, Disney/j.

Later on in Tapis Rouge, the characters discuss other films based on the Great Seven, including one Queen of Hearts movie. A Sea Witch movie is also mentioned; in it, she “goes gigantic” and also sings as she brews potions. The Octatrio quite enjoy this particular film.

(Side note: Another anon once suggested to me that people probably also write fanfics of Neige and Vil since they’re celebrities… Think like “My mom sold me to One Direction?!” Wattpad kinds of fics, but replace One Direction with Vil or something. You can read those post here!)

It’s… interesting this event specifically has Vil promoting a live action adaption of an in-universe animated film about the Beautiful Queen—an animated film which was the first full-color animated movie AND it originally released close to 90 years ago. They also reference the funding issues that Disney suffered while producing Snow White + inviting bank employees in to preview the movie to acquire more investments, stating that the studio that made the animated Beautiful Queen experienced the same. The in-game live action is even slated to come out “NEXT YEAR”. They’re not being subtle here with TWST’s references to their own version of the irl Disney Snow White (the live action is coming out in 2025, the OG is also almost 90 years old, etc.). I wonder if the EN server will actually get Tapis Rouge around the time of the irl release of Disney’s live action Snow White as part of a promotional campaign? 😂

UPDATE: There are even more not-so-subtle references to Disney animations in part 4 of the event, including discussion of cel animation, rotoscoping, adding blush to the characters, and how Disney brought in real animals/observed the “real thing” to help with animating similar scenes or subjects. They also cheekily say that most animation nowadays is CG 💀

I know some books under Disney publishing try to show alternate tellings or show the villains in a more sympathetic light, but I don’t know that they would ever commit to fully animating a film like that. It definitely would not happen in the style of traditional animation, Disney no longer seems well-equipped to handle that task 😔 I feel like it would also be pretty niche or might not get overwhelming positive reception with recent audience calls for “true bad guys” instead of twist or sympathetic villains (though I’m not sure what percentage of people watching Disney actually have this opinion).

I do wonder how those “AU” films would work though…? It wouldn’t be as simple as suddenly turning the G7 into “good guys”. The scenario and other characters would also have to drastically change. TWST doesn’t necessarily make the original “good guys” “bad” in a world where the villains are historical figures; we still hear plenty of positive or neutral stories about the achievements of the mermaid princess and other Disney heroes.

There are also times when the same story diverges into multiple separate stories that seemingly have no connection to one another. For example, there is a story where a princess marries a street rat (clearly referencing Aladdin) and they live happily ever after in spite of the difference in their social statuses. However, there simultaneously exists a story in which the Sorcerer of the Sands saves a princess from being deceived by a fake prince (also referencing Aladdin). The same goes for the mermaid princess (Ariel)—there is both a story referring to a “mermaid princess” who married a human prince and also a different story (clearly still pulled from the same film) about a mermaid who made a deal with the Sea Witch to find true love but broke her contract in the end.

Very cool idea, just not sure where it would lead or it it’s feasible or worth it monetarily for Disney.

[that-blue-vault-dweller]

Companions favorite Disney movie?

A/N: Howdy, howdy, folks! I know it's been a while, but I hope y'all enjoy these! 🥰💙💛 I've been extremely busy and have sort of lost motivation for this fandom, but I'm going to try to play Fo4 soon and see if I can muster up some more motivation 😊 I still have some fanfic to write and some reactions to do and I've got to get my butt in gear!

Cait - Brave. It might seem like the obvious choice because, well... ginger twinsies.... But she loves it because of the constant action and the fact that Merida wields a sword and a bow while also riding a horse often at the same time. She also secretly sort of finds herself vicariously living through Merida and wishing she would have had a family like hers with parents that actually loved her.

Curie - Inside Out. It's sciency and presents a fun, creative way of examining the brain's functions. She would prefer that Disney be more realistic, but despite her slight disappointment, she also understands that it has to be presented in a child-friendly way that would keep a kid's attention. A close second for her would be Big Hero 6. Honey Lemon is her hero.

Piper - Zootopia. She finds herself very much relating to Judy Hopps most days. Just a girl in a big city and a big world with the chips stacked against her and hardly anyone on her side as she fights the good fight. She also enjoys Judy's optimistic, sarcastic, energetic spirit that she upkeeps in the face of adversity. It's something that Piper herself has done her best to maintain.

MacCready - Finding Nemo. As a concerned dad with a struggling young son of his own, he can relate to this movie greatly. Plus, a bonus is that he likes to mess with F!Sole about being Dory, which she never seems to appreciate nearly as much as he does most days.

Deacon - The Emperor's New Groove. All of the jokes and the lightheartedness of the overall movie is totally Deacon's style. He always quotes the movie afterward and drives everyone at HQ crazy with his rather awful impression of Yzma.

Codsworth - Flubber. He sort of is crushing on Weebo the robot assistant. Granted, he says he has no sort of manner in which to facilitate such feelings since he is not programmed to feel things like that, but he raves over her enough that everyone can see he clearly has some manner of feelings.

Hancock - A Bug's Life. He doesn't really know why, but it cracks him up every time he turns it on. Of course, he's usually high when he's watched it, but that's not the important part. The important thing is that it's anti-grasshoppers and after the stuff he saw at Nuka-World, that suits him just fine.

Danse - Toy Story. He would rather die than admit it, but he likes the movie for the odd reason that he heavily relates to the spaceman. His perspective on life and his soldier-like dedication to his mission is truly outstanding. He also strangely relates to him in many ways, but he's not quite sure why.

Preston - Brother Bear. He enjoys the deep feelings and meaning behind the film. It's such an underrated yet good film and it has a really great sound track as well. He also has a strange affinity for Toy Story because of Woody and his steady dependability.

Valentine - Old Yeller. It's traditional and it has that sense of old-timey living that Nick can appreciate. He also enjoys the deep emotional quality of the film and the fact that it's about a good, loyal, brave dog. Kind of like Dogmeat.

X6-88 - Maleficent. He enjoys her sense of humor and her sense of taking care of business and revenge when people do her wrong. However, his favorite non-Disney movie is The Matrix. He firmly believes the coursers' design is based on Morpheus and he secretly thinks he looks like him most out of the courser models.

Dogmeat - The Fox and the Hound. He loves nothing more than to howl along with the dog on there. Finally a movie that actually has a character that speaks his language! The dog also actually successfully befriends other animals in a way that Dogmeat never seems to do too well since they're always trying to stomp on him or kill him. He also is a fan of Bolt.

Strong - Monster's Inc. Firstly, Strong doesn't like movies. They're confusing and make no sense because what do you mean those things are not really there? They're standing right in front of him! But he likes Monster's Inc more than most because Mike Wazowski looks like a super-mutant. An ugly, one-eyed freak super-mutant, but nevertheless one of his kind.

[lintwriting]

the logic of bashing fics

I love the parallels between a certain type of character. Tell me if you've seen them before.

Ostensibly “noble” adults generously helping orphan protagonists. For such generosity, they get the orphan's undying loyalty. Within the story, these adults are portrayed as good, or at least ambiguous in morality. Never explicitly evil, as often we're hearing from the perspective of the kids they save--who worship them -- and not from the fellow adults around them. Or, if we do, those adults who DO badmouth them have ulterior motives that muddy the waters.

And, yet... The cracks are there.

For an example: DUMBLEDORE.

With Dumbledore, the cracks are unintentional. The casualty of being in a genre where you need young kids getting into dangerous action without adults getting in the way. What you get is this strategic figure who neglects him to the point of abuse and views Harry's life as his sacrificial pawn in war, where death "is the next great adventure," but this is all painted as a Christ-like sacrifice rather than a disturbing one.

Oh sure, the characters are horrified by Harry's death and abuse, but not to the point of ever questioning Dumbledore's character over it, nor does the audience. In many ways, Dumbledore has groomed Harry into his role as sacrificial lamb, but it's justified within the narrative to us and the characters.

This leads one of my favorite phenomena: people getting unreasonably mad at genre conventions.

For instance, your average action media featuring teenagers will have them putting their lives in danger, and, thus, will create excuses for why adults aren't there to stop them. Your casual viewer will accept these shallow excuses for what they are-- a plot device without much thought put into it. It's a mundane part of their suspension of disbelief, so they can watch magical teenagers fighting monsters. They don't need much thought put into this because they understand that it's just the conceit of the show.

But sometimes it's a little fun to think deeper about the implications of these flimsy excuses. Listicle sites go viral off of these types of "Why Hogwarts Should Have Been Shut Down Years Ago" articles. It's nothing more than a fun little thought experiment to them, but it gets really funny to me when I stumble across people who get genuinely ANGRY and PETTY about this. Seething at the gall of "children's fantasy show writer #218" for writing such abusive parents and not even acknowledging it within the story! I mean, it kind of takes the lightheartedness out of "children fighting--the genre" if you acknowledge that parents shouldn’t be okay with their preteens being sent off to magic fighting, guys. Like high school American football, we gotta brush the danger to the kids under the rug to enjoy the show lol guys.

And who are these angry guys? They're the people who genuinely felt tricked when they realized that the excuses (that everybody else took as a farce at face value) don't make much sense.

Why? Because they bought in WITHOUT suspending their disbelief. Like when kids believe high school will be just as trope-y as their fanfics/TV shows until they get there! Because they were little kiddos too young to know when they first watched these shows that these tropes are unrealistic.

This famously applies to the Bible, where we need to see God as an all-good father in-universe, and therefore indoctrinate kids young and invent "faith" as a genre convention to avoid thinking too deeply about His actions. In reality though (out-of-universe" if you will), when you become an ex-Christian, you realize all the ways god acts as a textbook abusive parent (which you can find out more about on the channel, TheraminTrees), and you feel tricked and betrayed by the religion that you taught you to "think" (read: faith) otherwise.

This especially affects media targeted at an audience that “grows up” with the work, such as Manga or YA book series. So if you’re an adult reading Harry Potter or My Hero Academia whatever magic teen fighting book for the first time, you’re going to write that kind of stuff off as the genre conventions and tropes.

But if you’re a kid, you’re going to take these tropes at face value. And then, when you grow up, you suddenly start realizing that this media you’ve been idolizing is actually not as thought out as you imagined it to be as a kid

You’re in that edgey phase where you realize the nuances of what’s wrong with the world and are searching for media to reflect that (which isn’t exactly a priority for the magic teens fighting genre). You’re going to be disappointed and betrayed and frustrated

And itching for an outlet for all that anger—

And thus, many a meta and Dumbledore bashing fics were born.

read more here: bashing and deconstructionxt

[ooops-i-arted]

I don't care to follow this show closely, but people in tags have been talking about it for weeks. Not surprising that the Ahsoka/Anakin reunion turned out disappointing and devoid of emotional depth, because what did I expect from Filoni and Disney Star Wars after all?

At this point, I just have to ask .... does Filoni know that he's supposed to be writing characters? Like people with personalities? Relationships between people with shared history? Dialogue that sounds natural coming from an individual with a functioning brain? Because we have characters like the live action Ghost Crew who are described as stilted and don't even act like they are close. We have Ahsoka and Luke scenes that feel hollow and tacked on, ("so much like your father" girl explain how something Luke said made you come to that conclusion or was it just for fans to get nostalgic about clone wars?). The last time Anakin and Ahsoka met, he tried to fucking kill her and we would think there would be more of a reaction from this. But no, the focus is on battle scenes and snarky clone wars skits.

Oh my bad, Filoni's target demographic is people weeping over the next cameo and something he poached from Legends. He can probably make something look like a flashy video game cutscene. But more effort is put into showing off choreography and making Ahsoka look like the bland, stoic and bestest OC ever, rather than writing something truly meaningful and it's really obvious.

The problem imo is that the fandom has acted like Filoni shits gold for so long Disney/Filoni has no incentive to improve. Every piece of nostalgia-laden schlock Filoni squeezes out of his butthole is treated as a masterpiece by the majority of the fandom. They have zero incentive to keep making fresh, original things like Mandalorian season 1 or Andor (haven't watched that yet, going by word of mouth) when low-effect TCW fanfiction makes the loudest Star Wars fans cream their pants.

Honestly I think the Ahsoka show is just Filoni playing with his dolls with all the high-end special effects at his disposal and still couldn't make Hera look halfway decent. Tbh I feel a bit bad for all the voice actors and animators who first brought these characters to life and gave them soul now being tossed aside for the new shiny live action versions, just because there's this idea that animation is less prestigious/for kids. Like I'm no fan of Ashley Eckleswhatever but there is no doubt she is dedicated to Ahsoka and the fans and I've heard tons of lovely things about her. Not to mention the Legends authors getting ripped off and no credit for their ideas. (Don't even get me started on Hayden Christensen. Okay, obviously I don't presume to know how he feels, hey if he's happy with this good for him and I 100% support him. But if I starred in the prequels and had my performance constantly mocked and maligned for years, finally returned to Kenobi and had tons of fans now cheering and praising me for an emotional reunion with the character & actor that were the heart of RotS..... I wouldn't exactly be thrilled to lick the orange butthole of some guy's fanfic OC next.)

(Also also I hate the TCW designs. In the 2D Clone Wars Anakin does not wear any armor, which imo much better shows how reckless and borderline arrogant he is about his abilities.)

[eruherdiriel]

Dedra Meero and D*enerys T: Fandom Reactions to Female Villains

Note: This post assumes Dedra and D*ny are villainous characters. You've been warned (twice now). GOT critical, minor spoilers for both shows ahead (characterizations more than plot points). I am not discussing anyone's enjoyment of a character, rather, I'm examining interpretations of villainy and who we root for in a narrative.

I've watched Andor twice, and both times I was struck by how similar Dedra Meero feels to D*ny. So far, however, Dedra's arc is more coherent and the audience seems more united in how it views her, which fascinates me. (I know some are rooting for a redemption arc for Dedra, which I will discuss more later. By definition, that means there's something about her that needs to be redeemed, so I am assuming those folks generally accept her as a villain in her current state.)

Both Dedra and D*ny are women in a man's world who, in order to rise within a corrupt and oppressive system, adopt the brutal tactics of that system. They believe in said system even if it treats them unjustly for being women. Dedra believes that the Empire should be the ultimate power in the universe, that rebels should be rooted out and crushed, and that horrifying torture and manipulation are acceptable actions to achieve the outcome of keeping the Empire in power. D*ny believes in the Targaryen dynasty, that they are rightful rulers of Westeros despite being colonizers, and that dragons (a weapon no one else has, nevermind that the narrative tells us over and over that burning people alive is Not Good) are an acceptable way to achieve her goal of sitting on the Iron Throne.

The fact that they face obstacles and encounter misogyny everywhere rightly stirs in the audience sympathy for them. Syril's obsession with Dedra is terrifying to me, as is Viserys's assault of D*ny. With Dedra, the sympathy generated from these circumstances doesn't seem to outweigh all the heinous things we see her do and make people actively root for her. Meanwhile, D*ny made it through 8 seasons of Thrones with a large cheering squad intact. There's a few reasons why that could be.

Even on a show like Andor, where characters are allowed to be morally messy, Star Wars is an inherently binary, good vs. evil universe. The Rebellion vs. the Empire. The light side of the force vs. the dark side. Thrones lives in the gray. Sometimes that's not the right term, but it's how the audience is told it should see characters. At its worst, Thrones sanitized more villainous characters and dumbed down more heroic ones to keep everyone "gray," thereby oversimplifying and misrepresenting what it means for a character or action to be morally gray. Character motivations were buried to preserve plot twists, which led to confusion among some of the audience over who the ultimate heroes were. Andor shows us Luthen instigating an Empire crackdown and asks audience members to question his methods while also making the case for them. Cassian's trigger finger is ruthless, but how many times does that save his life? Save the life of someone he loves or someone else who will play a key role in the Rebellion?

Andor is also 12 episodes in (of 24 planned); characters are going to complete their arcs a lot faster than characters did on Thrones. That accelerated time line has an effect on fandom engagement, how much time people spend with a character (potentially allowing them to build more sympathy for said character), and how much time they have to transform that character in their mind (headcanons, fanfic, etc., all things I love but can convolute discussions about the original text). We also know less about Dedra than we did about D*ny, and very little about her personal life. Still, Dedra feels human, so don't mistake this for thinking she is a poorly drawn character. She's not.

A word on redemption: For me, Star Wars doesn't have a great track record with successfully completing redemption arcs. I know some people feel differently. But given the quality of Andor season 1, I think this show could do a villain redemption and do it well, but I don't want it to (please hold your tomatoes). It's enough for me that our good guys are doing shady things on behalf of the Rebellion. It's enough for me that the villains have sympathetic qualities. I still want them to be villains. Especially with Andor, the themes and plotlines are so resonant of the challenges we face in the real world that one of the few ways the show maintains the catharsis of entertainment is through good defeating evil. And it's important to me that Dedra stays a villain because there are villainous women in the real world and we need to remember that. It's part of why I was never bothered by the idea that D*ny would be a villain as well.

(I want to acknowledge the role actor's external comments might have had on viewing these two women as villains. I won't go into it too much because it feels a little icky saying I agree with one person's comments about a character they played and not another's, and also because I wish actor/writer/director etc. comments weren't taken so seriously in fandom. Also, I have not combed through every interview the actors have given so I only know the highlights, and I want to be fair to them that maybe their views have changed or they've said contradictory things elsewhere. /Disclaimer. To sum up, Emilia Clarke emphatically stated in post-S8 interviews that she stood by D*ny and "never saw [the ending] coming." Maybe this gives some fans "permission" to feel that way as well. Meanwhile, Denise Gough called her character a fascist [I know almost nothing else about Denise but I LOVE her for this comment.])

[mania-sama]

This ask is just for fun...

Top 5 (or top 3) Favorite female characters :

Top 5 (or top 3) Favorite male characters :

Top 5 Favorite media :

Media you are currently enjoying :

Media that exceeded all your expectations :

Top 3 Unpopular media you really love :

Favorite romance :

Favorite action :

Favorite fantasy :

Favorite sci -fi :

Favorite drama :

Favorite comedy :

Top 3 Favorite movies :

Next in your watch list :

Next in your read list :

Top 3 Favorite antagonists:

Top 5 (or top 3) favorite ships (can be canon or non canon) :

The series, movies or type of media can be anime/manga, books, or tv series....

Thanks 🌻

thank you so much, sunflower anon! i love little games like these!!

As far as any listings go, there is generally no particular order in which I rank them. Here you go!

(And I know you didn’t say I could list them, but I considered games to be a viable category for me to choose from. And, note that these are not what I think are, necessarily, the most well-written things of all time. These are just my favorite. Vastly different concepts.)

Top 3 Favorite Female Characters -> Kugisaki Nobara [Jujutsu Kaisen], Nina Zenik [Grishaverse], Yosano Akiko [Bungou Stray Dogs]

Top 3 Favorite Male Characters -> Robbie White | Axe Boy [Identity V], Oikawa Tooru [Haikyuu], Percy Jackson [Percy Jackson and the Olympians]

Top 3 Favorite Media -> A Silent Voice (Movie), Merlin (TV Show), Grishaverse (Book Series)

Media You Are Currently Enjoying -> I am on Season 3 of Kitchen Nightmares.

Media That Exceeded All Your Expectations -> The A Quiet Place movie franchise. Cannot believe how fantastic those movies are. And it’s impressive that it exceeded my expectations, because I went in with high expectations already.

Top 3 Unpopular Media You Really Love -> Taking “unpopular” to mean underrated/not well-known; Child of Light (Video Game), School - Live! (Anime), The Unlisted (TV Show).

Favorite Romance -> When I Awake (Fanfiction). I don't give a flying FART that this isn't it's "own work" or whatever. I HAVEN'T CONSUMED A BETTER ROMANCE THAN THIS FANFIC.

Favorite Action -> Moon Knight (TV Show).

Favorite Fantasy -> Merlin (TV Show).

Favorite Sci-Fi -> A Quiet Place (Movie Franchise).

Favorite Drama -> A Silent Voice (Movie). The reason why I have this listed here, instead of under romance, is because I believe the movie - as opposed to manga - has a far stronger focus on the drama genre rather than the romance genre.

Favorite Comedy -> The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. (Anime). Honestly, this is my weakest category. I love a good laugh, always, but I read comedy fanfiction and don't really watch/read comedy in any other media format. Because the funny people in this world are not producers en masse in exec rooms, but 14-year-olds on Archive of Our Own. Sorry. I don't make the rules.

Top 3 Favorite Movies -> A Silent Voice, A Quiet Place, A Quiet Place: Part II. I seem to have a running theme…

Next In Your Watchlist -> A Quiet Place: Day One (Movie).

Next In Your Readlist -> This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone (Book).

Top 3 Favorite Antagonists -> Akutagawa Ryuunosuke [Bungou Stray Dogs], Kuro [Ori and the Blind Forest], Oikawa Tooru [Haikyuu]. I find it very humiliating that the normal, high school teenage boy somehow managed to make it on my list of favorites in this ask three whole times. But he is an antagonist and honestly very well-written one at that. I will die on this hill.

Top 3 Favorite Ships -> Klance [Keith/Lance; Voltron: Legendary Defender], Percabeth [Percy Jackson/Annabeth Chase; Percy Jackson and the Olympians], IwaOi [Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru; Haikyuu]

[tmmyhug]

bestie (nicest way possible) as someone who was new to the fandom last September I wouldn’t recommend making a sideblog and like talking about comics/batfam/etc if you haven’t read the comics? people get really touchy about that, because fanfic interpretation tend to be really far from how characters are in canon (and character relationships get butchered and softened and straight up invented for plot, which once again, creative liberty + that can be fun but often tends to be incredibly ooc & excludes women (cass, helena, steph, etc) or poc (duke (though his case is different considering when he was introduced), cass, damian’s poc but isn’t really ignored) in favor of white boys (jason especially, who shows up far later than said women & isn’t really close to the fam yet fandom tends to give him their relationships with the family) so like...you’ll probably be mostly wrong and people are rather unforgiving about that because they’re tired of people that haven’t read comics talking about the characters (incorrectly) while refusing to interact w/ source material, and it’s a huge problem & very prevalent so I can’t really blame them? idk I just don’t think it’s a good idea unless you want to reblog just art and stuff, which is fine! but like...everything's really confusing w/out proper research if you want to get into the fandom (everything post-reboot/post-2011 is largely ignored unless said otherwise because the reboot was so awful), so i just want to point that out! but I don’t want to be mean, just some advice :) (if you ever change your mind about comics, just give the say so! we’re (and i) am very glad to help you out with what to read and in what order, and take it from someone who was in your position six months ago, they are truly really fun!) /gen /nm

not to worry my friend this sounds pretty much exactly like the dsmp experience where new people never properly interacted with the canon content and the fanon got more and more bastardized over time as a result and everyone got touchy abt it. including me . you could say im familiar . im just on the other side now (oblivious newbie) which should be interesting. i have no intention of treading on anyone’s toes or making assumptions or even talking abt the characters with any sort of authority. if i do make a sideblog it’ll be just to reblog art n stuff.

plus i am ah. very aware that the fanon im consuming is an extremely warped perspective of the actual comics. and with how many different “canons” there are i’m sure it’s a mess. at least in dsmp we could always point back to just the og streams. here i’m gathering there’s 174958637 comics + 284871 writers + movies + live action AND animated tv shows + multiple video games and they ALL have intersecting characters and possible canons it’s giving me a headache just thinking abt it dear lord

so yeah. i’m perfectly happy sequestering myself in an oblivious fanon corner and not claiming to know anything. normally for a new fandom i would seek out the full source material and examine it thoroughly but theres just. too much. and i also just don’t enjoy reading comics. at least not the superhero ones. (i think the art doesn’t appeal to me? and something about the combination of written word and still visual art like. rankles at my sense of pacing and story <- just guessing though) i did watch the under the red hood movie tjough and it was cool so i may do more of those!

i’m glad you said you like talking abt this cause i just wrote you a whole essay lol. if i may ask do you know of any good fanon/fanfic content i could check out that stays mostly true to the comics canon? i’m curious ! but regardless thank you for the very nice message and warning it’s appreciated mwah

[thescreaminghat]

atsv thoughts (spoilers)

i believe that even if miles morales knew about canon events and the consequences of breaking them before entering pavitr’s world, he still would have saved inspector singh, because he already knows what it’s like to lose his uncle aaron and to feel helpless, to feel guilt and self-blame and doubt about whether he’s ever going to be good enough as both spider-man and as his parents’ son. so he’s not going to let someone else experience the same tragedy that he went through if he can stop it. and like, isn’t that one of the things that makes spider-man so compelling as a hero? seeing the relatable, fish-out-of-water moments where this character begins to learn, to grow, to love and to lose that love, to develop a deeper connection with their community, remaining in many ways a down-to-earth “everyman” even though they are burdened with an overwhelming responsibility and forced to hide who they are. miles morales isn’t spider-man just because he was bitten by a radioactive spider, he’s spider-man because he has the heart of spider-man, that even through loss he would continue to do the right thing and use his abilities to find a solution to a seemingly insurmountable problem. like, to an extent i understand miguel’s reasoning (tho him trying to beat the shit out of miles while calling him worthless is essentially begging for some form of well-deserved divine comeuppance in the 3rd movie), but to me the whole point of having the spider society should have been to stick up for each other when spider-people have trouble dealing with situations in their own world (i.e. truly living out the punk values that characters like hobie stand by), rather than engaging in multiverse surveillance of each spider-person to keep them in line and letting their loved ones die for the “greater good”.

also the mj in peter b. parker’s universe should have had some more hard-hitting lines (wow fanfic time!). specifically when peter b returns from the chase and puts mayday to sleep, and him and mj are tenderly watching their baby, he should have asked mj what she would do to protect mayday. and she would say smth to tease peter b at first, like “oh didn’t we agree that she’s under spider-man’s care when im at work?” but then peter b would ask her again, and we can see that he’s seriously considering everything that just happened to miles, and this time mj notices the shift and she takes a moment to think. and then she responds with “i think i would give my whole being, my whole world to keep her safe.” and peter asks “you’d give the world? the universe? including other people with their own parents and children?” and mj replies with “i’d do everything and anything for her, but i dont know if i could be called a good parent if i had to force someone else to give up their happiness.” and peter’s on a roll, he’s plagued by more questions at an answer that could be interpreted either for or against miles’s actions---”what if you had to make a choice, mj? mayday or everything---everyone---else?” and now mj knows this is something much, much bigger, but she’s firm with her answer. “spider-man isn’t driving a runaway train headed towards mayday on one track and a group of old ladies on another, peter. he’s the one swinging outside, ripping up the damned tracks and growing a third arm right then and there to steer the train to safety. and if spider-man isn’t willing to do that, then i sure will.” and that’s when it sinks into peter b that he cant play by miguel’s rules anymore. or smth. idk. anyways yea that’s my ramble

[keef-a-corn]

Ahem, not close to being an og on tumblr or DC so I may have some stupid points and/or may being doing this friggin wrong and I’m okay with that. Fairly certain I will be proven wrong one way or another, but I’m tryin’.

Now..

Got into DC not too long ago. This is what I have learnt so far (these are mainly Batman based because I’m yet to care about anyone else nearly as much as I care about Bats and I’m mainly focusing on the stuff I’ve encountered, not toxicity [because I haven’t encountered that yet]):

- Batman is awesome but his canon constantly clashes. It’s nicer for HCs but is also a pain when a bunch of people focus on one part.

- still very shocking but… people tend to be fairly okay when someone doesn’t read the comics or most of the comics, as long as they are at least familiar with references to the comics.

- the live-action movies are both really good and highly flawed all at once.

- there is a horrific amount of crossovers with Miraculous and Danny Phantom. Like fanfics made yesterday have these crossovers.

- You like a ship? Perfect! Here’s plenty of content in relation to that!

- my method from finding Transformers fanfics does not work.

- Not enough JL depress.

- still yet to see anyone mention how funny it is that parents allow their children to engage with majority of DC and JL content when they really shouldn’t.

-Batman can never be apart of young children content. Nothing targeted to someone below the age of 7 should be allowed to engage with Batman content. Considering how he became Batman, his morals, his motivations, his goals.

- majority agree that a good version of Batman is when cares about people and actually is a very good person but will never see himself as a good person, he’s not scary. He’s not mean. He actually cares about people. He’s just a damaged person.

- Autism and ADHD characters are canon and I love browsing all the proof that it’s canon.

- Alfred is best. (Also raised my standards for the British only for it to be destroyed by my stupid uncle.)

- want to ignore canon? M’kay!

- not enough ‘Bruce cut himself off from people for years, but did solely interact with Alfred, gradually he started mimicking Alfred’s accent, so when he finally interacts with people again he has a British accent.’ Come on.

- if you search up any negative, but angsty, trait and ‘Bruce Wayne’ on tumblr you’re going to get a whole bunch of content that’s either Bruce x reader or is batbros focused rather than Bruce focused.

- everything is either from 5 years ago or yesterday.

- not enough owl man and Batman interacting content. Where’s the fanfics where Owlman tries to join the JLA and the only one to question it is Bruce! Initially Owlman’s there to undermine Batman and drive him insane, but gradually their relationship develops and the original plan goes out the window in the wake of ‘protective brother’ mode?? It’s not even close to canon, but at this rate it doesn’t matter.

- fight scenes are cool, but do you know what’s cooler? Characters displaying proper friendships [while fighting]

- overworked and insomniac characters are central in fanfics when you least expect it, but if you ACTUALLY SEARCH IT UP YOU GET NOTHING!

Edit: completely forgot to mention

- still waiting for someone to mention that although Battison (I think [yet to watch it]) addresses the black makeup from around the eyes of Batman when he’s in the cowl, does it really matter? Because it’s not even supposed to be there because Batman’s eyes are supposed to be covered by the lenses built into the cowl.

- disappointed by the lack of high-heels in more modern content. They run around in heels in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited and that’s how high my standards are. No heels? No point.

- pink kryptonite hehe

And finally

- learning big words and concepts thanks to everything. Honestly didn’t know what ABA was, or that it’s called a cowl!

[emeritus-fuckers]

Hello! I'm sorry this is so late, but I wanted to submit a matchup, if that's still going? My name is Kat; I'm a genderqueer person (all pronouns) who is bisexual, polyamorous, and greyromantic. This means that while I find most people attractive, I tend not to fall in romantic love unless I know them really well, but I have no problem having physical relationships that are platonic (at least to start). I'd love any matchup, but I would really hope for one of the Ghouls or Papas! I'm fairly tall for being AFAB (5'8") and I'm pretty curvy too. I've always been a larger girl, which made me pretty insecure growing up. I have long brown hair and brown eyes. My style of dress is fairly inconsistent; in the warm months I like to wear short skirts and frilly tops, I jokingly call it fairy-punk. When it gets cold I default to slacks/long skirts and sweaters, think librarian. I also have a fondness for combat boots, they're basically the only shoes I wear. I tend to be pretty shy around new people, but once I'm comfortable I am very bubbly. Most people describe me as sweet, kind, intelligent, and polite. I'm very much a mom friend, and I love taking care of the people I love. That said, I can often get into my own head a bit and panic, especially when it comes to asking for things I want. I try really hard to always make sure the people around me feel safe, happy and loved. My hobbies include video games, listening to music, writing and reading (mostly fanfic), going camping with my friends, and baking. I bake a lot, and will almost always make something if I'm going to a party or event. I also memorize the dietary needs and favorite treats of the people closest to me so that I can always make them something they'll love. My music taste is a bit all over the place; I listen to everything from alt rock to Broadway to bubble pop to folk/shanty. I like anything that I can sing along to, and I do have a rather nice singing voice.

I hope this is enough, and congratulations on 1000 followers! 💙

This post is part of the 1000 followers match up event. Entries for the event are now closed.

Your match is...Papa Emeritus IV

He was shy at first too. But with his Papa paints on he gained confidence and went over to speak to you. He’s so easy to talk to, because he understands being shy, so you get along with him really well from the start.

“Would you like to play video games with me? It would be nice sì?” That’s how you got to know each other properly. You both love video games and hang out a lot together.

He loves that you want to take care of him, and he needs that sometimes. He often pushes himself too hard for his work. But Copia is always keeping an eye on you and he makes sure you are also cared for. He knows you might struggle to ask, so when he sees you getting stressed or tired he puts the day aside to pamper you.

Copia loves baking! He’ll happily help out whenever you want him to (Primo taught him) or he'll just keep you company. He enjoys making treats for his rats which you often help him with.

He’ll cuddle you midway through baking and kiss you on the cheek. Also watch out for him stealing treats when they are just cool enough to eat.

He loves signing along to music and his taste is very varied too. He adores your voice so he'll happily sit and listen. Also he loves joining in. He brought you a karaoke set for your birthday. A really high quality one with proper microphones and everything.

He’ll happily go camping with you, although he has never been camping much before. Copia is used to tour busses so he is really good at packing well and living in a smallish space. He really enjoys camping but at night when you hear strange noises he makes a few little rat noises. Just give him a cuddle and all will be well. If anything truely scary were to happen he would spring into action, Ghouls appearing from seemingly nowhere to protect you. Copia would put a protective arm around you and go full on Papa mode to deal with the situation. He will always keep you safe.

~

Written by Nyx

[picturejasper20]

What are your hottest cartoon takes?

Okay, here we go:

-The cartoon fandom should watch more shows that just Amphibia and The Owl House. (Yes, they are good shows, but there are plenty others worth of watching). -Some Cartoon Networks shows before the HBO Max merger whole thing were decent to good. You people are just mean. (Craig of the Creek is pretty good, try checking it out). -The reason people think shows only have the ¨positive girl protagonist¨ is because they mainly watch Disney TVA shows. This doesn't happen the same way with CN shows. - Not sure if it's a ¨hot take¨ but Elliott from Earth's treatment from the network is one of the worst things i have in seen in modern animation shows. -More animation fans should give a try to slice of life comedy shows. Some of them are pretty good. -More people should give a try to Disney Junior shows. A few of them are great. - I think Elena of Avalor and, to a certain extent, Sofia The First are executed better than Amphibia and The Owl House. - Excessive shipping in cartoon fandoms has ruined the way people interact with the medium. -Tired of seeing the same evil overlord muscular dude as main antagonist in action shows. Please give them some variety. -In addition to the previous point, there should be more variety to antagonists than ¨evil overlord¨ and ¨Sympathetic antagonist that gets redemmed at the end¨. Not that i dislike these, what i'm saying it is that there should other ways to write an antagonist. -Why aren't more people talking about Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur series? It looks different from most of shows that Disney TVA has done in the lastest years. Plus, it has fantastic animation. - Penn Zero: Part Time Hero is an underrated series. Same goes to Randy Cunningham. - Unlike many people, i didn't fully get into Star vs TFOE until the second season. In fact, i do find Season 1 mediocre in some ways. Some episodes were a hit or miss. I liked the whole development they were doing in Season 2 and part of Season 3. Then the series turned into a weird shipping fanfic. - I don't fully got into Pixar's Up to be honest? Excellent film though. -I do prefer the new age of Pixar trying to be experimental rather than doing a sequel/prequel film for the 10th time even if the results are just decent. (Why are they making Inside Out 2 again?) - A Bug's Life is an underrated pixar film. -I do like Disney and Pixar doing the intergenerational trauma in their latest films. Yes, i do find it more interesting and complex than bad guy number #345 unless i find said character entertaining. However, i don't think they should do this theme in more than 2-3 films. -About Dreamworks, i think The Croods is an underrated film. The sequel is also decent. -Spies in Disguise is an excellent film and it suprises me that more people don't talk about it. It is a film that manages to be silly while tackling a very serious topic. -People think that ¨adult animation is all the same¨ because they don't watch enough adult animation shows. We are living in boom moment for that part of the industry and many are missing on it. Also, i think this is because some of these shows are on streaming services and not everyone is able to access those. -Final Space was a great show that plenty called it ¨another generic bad adult show¨ because of the art style and only gave a fuck about the series when it got cancelled. - Ballmastrz 9009 is genuinely a funny show with good characters and great animation. I don't get why it got overlooked by the general public.

[kari-izumi]

My slash shipping friends don't think this whole "It's not real if they don't kiss" attitude is a thing that exists among M/F fandom pairings, but I would love to thank everyone without reading comprehension for giving me this example to show them lol

Snark aside though, if this W was any bigger, it'd be replacing Warner Music Group's current logo. Spirk is THEE ship that saved this franchise from obscurity and not even THEY have gotten this kind of huge moment in the sun in official canon like we've been given in Prodigy.

Also, keep in mind that unlike live action media, where actors can make choices that go against what the writers or creatives want (see also: Garashir), any and everything that makes it into an animated shot, especially one where animated motion is involved, was done with intention.

This one was a very deliberately thought out easter egg that could've easily have been left out as we'd already seen Chakotay gift her his chah-moo-zee, a very, very, veeeeery personal heirloom to pass down to anyone, and that would've also sufficed. But no, we get this mirror that also had stones from their time from the Delta Quadrant. I thought I had the passenge screenshots but I think they've been shared recently enough at the time of this posting on July 29th 2024 to find in the tag.

But hey, let's put aside beta canon and look at the show itself. Damn near every time J/C are in the same scene as Dal and Gywn--two characters who HAVE kissed and who we know have feelings for one another--the show makes a point of juxtaposing the latter with similar actions from the former. I mean, it's clear enough that an 8 year old fan asked Kate Mulgrew about whether Janeway was in love with him or not in a rather adorable clip I saw on Twitter (and good taste on kid, you're gonna love this ship tag in seven to ten years!). I mean, that's someone in the target demo of the show who picked up what the writers was laying down like Chakotay did the minute he and Janeway got some privacy after their reunion

It's just strange to me that people think this is not something to be excited for as someone who came into VOY shortly after it ended and never thought we'd have any official follow up to the show after Janeway's two second cameo in Nemesis. When we got that bullshit asspull in Endgame we thought that was the end of that and C/7 was forever more, the end (thankfully, Picard pulled that bandaid right off with gay Seven tho). Most of us just ignored that entirely.

But even if there weren't all these details? The great thing about fandom is we can transform it into our own vision *anyway*. And I love what we got because it's just enough where I can still have scope for the imagination where I can still fill in my own blanks.

But in this case? As much as I'd love to see an actual kiss onscreen, this has watered my crops and cleared my skin more than any other callback or shout-out in Modern Trek. For comparison, Picard and Crusher, the J/C equivalent on TNG, had a whole ass CHILD but apparently were a Ross/Rachel level disaster of a couple that Crusher went off the grid to raise the kid. That one was confirmed but speaking as someone who shipped that concurrent to J/C in the 2000s, I know which of the two feels far more satisfying because here I am, writing my first two J/C fanfics since high school, re-watching VOY (a show I have unfortunately slagged off after learned from other fans that it was "bad" but now realize many ppl were gonna hate it no matter what it did) and having headcanons of Janeway and Chakotay doing the JoJo torture dance together on their Lake George date (we all know that's a date when he came by with a frigging ROSE and I'm tired of pretending otherwise!) because I'm a shit poster at heart but also, these two have been through it and need some fun.

This post was longer than I expected it to be, but TLDR: OP is right and kissing is not the only way to convey that two people live each other. it's not even the most meaningful way, most of the time.

J/C shippers are being salty and lamenting Prodigy for not being explicit about Janeway and Chakotay’s love for each other.

Meanwhile, in the text of the Prodigy series itself…

In Janeway’s Ready Room on the Voyager A (seen in episode 5) are a bunch of mementos from her adventures. Some are obvious, such as the framed arachnid on the wall as a reference to her Captain Proton Holodeck adventure, or the mini Voyager model…

But there’s ONE deep cut memento you might not realize the significance of. And that’s this compact mirror she stops to admire.

Which is a reference to a series of short stories that was published around 2005 under the title “Distant Shores.”

And in this series of short stories is one titled “Isabo’s Shirt” written by Kristen Beyer. And the story centers around Janeway and Chakotay… going on a DATE.

So when Janeway looks over the mementos in her Ready Room, she specifically stops and dwells on this compact mirror and the episode takes the time to show her doing this and show how much it means to her.

I’m sorry, but how are you lamenting that J/C is NOT cannon after witnessing THAT??? The writers of Prodigy took non-cannon short stories from 2005 about a J/C date and turned it into factual, textual, official Star Trek cannon!!!

[madstronaut]

let us rewind, to simpler times...comfort fic times🌿💝

yes I will admit - I, too, was swept up by the 🌪️hu-reylo-ricane🌪️ in 2016 - and this was pre-2017, ere the era of ben swolo and force dyad fuckery etc etc - I probably spent hours upon hours reading fic after fic on ff.net and ao3 - some absolutely fan-fucking-tastic, rip-my-soul-to-shreds-and-stitch-it-back-together-with-my-own-veins-stripped-from-my-limbs vibe stories but just two in particular I hold dear to my heart - one of the fics is so deeply significant & personal to me in such an intimate and revealing way I keep bumping it to the bottom of my 30-story-tall faficowrimo list - and the other one being this G-rated, <10k word, two chapter modern student/teacher's asst. college AU. lolwat anyway dive into the deepend of yet another of my faficowrimo rambles with me~

I don't believe @/heyloreylo aka @/on_my_toes is on tumblr anymore after a cursory search to tag, but dear writer if you ever see this, I want to say 🌿thank you🌿 for writing this story (and from an anon prompt!!! wow), I come back to this time and again when I feel homesick for places I haven't been (ugh I know the perfect word for this in my mother tongue but no such english word really captures it succinctly...#multilingualprobs)

Reading: Where There's Smoke, There's Fire by on_my_toes

When I found this fic (or rather when it found me) I, like Rey, was in an exhausting season where I felt I was perpetually living my days as one long night-before-a-big-final and that life kept setting afire any place I attempted to lay my head for a breather - foxes have holes and birds have nests, everyone but me, indeed - and feeling the weariness and loneliness of a season where there are Just Some Things You Must Travail Alone™️, even amidst friends who stick closer than brothers. (Yes I get straight biblical/shakespearean when I wax poetic, pls dont yap in my DMs if you take issue doth bite your thumb at me, good sir)

something I love about my comfort fics is how easy I find it is to leave all mis problemos at the door and slip into the world of the story and the emotions and actions of the characters and I can return again and again and experience all the emotions that swell out of me in a very freeing, cathartic, practiced, and predictably famiilar way anyway yes like 99.5% of people on this hellsite (affectionate) fanfic is also therapy for meeeee

I think like Ben the TA and Rey the chem student in this fic - we all, at times, develop and wear a hard outer shell to protect & distance ourselves and project power - the hardass TA wearing suits/formal/officewear/frowns like armor, the single female orphan student tensed, always ready to let fly a prepared right hook (or a verbal barb, or witty jab, or a cutting look, etc. etc. fill in the blanks)- esp. when cracks in our armor show - but Ben responds to Rey immediately with imho a curiously direct and bold display of care, compassion, and openheartedness - offering Rey the coat off his back, immediately opening his childhood!home to her, calling her by name, encouraging her in his own awkward ass way re: the chem final comment...also I sense from his first words he was watching and waiting to step in only until he was absolutely certain Rey could use his help - and in this sense, adding to and reinforcing to her strength rather than taking it away

there's something about being thrown right into deep end of the pool from the very start of the fic that makes meeting Ben so rewarding - Rey here is clearly tough as nails but caught outside with no shoes on, literally, at a very vulnerable moment - because even the strongest of us can't be strong all the time thank you pete, my IRL moot, for that bit of timely wisdom when I needed it 🌱 - and Ben Swolo meeting her here, not swooping in to save her per se, but shore up and compliment her strength instead and reveal so much more than he probably intended from the start of this afterhours interaction with her - just melts the most frozen parts of my heart every.single.fucking.time 💙🥺

I mentioned how familiar this fic was to me and it's not really the story but the emotions and people it reminds me of...

the way Ben loves Rey - in actions and words - so readily and easily - reminds me of my IRL beloveds who have done same for me

Rey so easily shrugging off help, even when sorely needed, is a heartachingly familiar place personally - and I see shades of my past and sometimes present self in her - but as the story unfolds I am reminded both of her growth and my own and the people who helped, and stayed, and remembered, and walked with and returned to me on my journey, just like with Rey here and I see the best parts of love and humanity in its many forms - familial, in friendship, in a lover - in the twists and turns of this story and anyway am I crying? what the fuck NOT AGAIN anyway moving on-

There is something unmistakably playful in the expression, and she feels her heart do this strange and slightly unwelcome flop at the sight of it.

🥺🥺🥺 I'm not sure if there's like a medical term for this physical sensation but besides looking upon my beloveds, reading fanfic also elicits this sensation in me

He looks down at her, seeming a bit disarmed by her smile. She has pushed him too far. She is about to take a step back and shut the hell up before she digs herself a bigger hole, but just then he smiles back at her, the sight of it so unexpected that he seems like an entirely different person. Handsome, even.

men, take notes - the power of a smile actually is quantifiably a helluva difference maker also stop fucking asking women on the street you don't know to smile its 2024 motherfuckers

It’s strange to think that this fully-grown, slightly intimidating person has parents nearby. 😂😂😂 this definitely reminded me of the shock I had as a madstrokiddo when I ran into a teacher at a supermarket once because I thought she lived at school, you know, the teacher's natural habitat and enclosure-

“I know how scary these tests can be,” he says, setting her at ease a bit by steering the conversation back to academics. “We have a guest room. It’s no trouble at all. I’ll give you a ride back to campus in the morning.”

She stares up at him, and there is something in his uncertainty, in the strange shyness that seems so incongruent with the strict TA she has come to know in class, that she trusts him. Completely.

I FUCKING LOVE SHYBOIS, SHYBOIS FOR PRESIDENT 2024, I WILL BE YOUR SECRET SERVICE/PROTECT YOU WITH MY LIMB AND LIFE FOR FREE please god literally anyfuckingonelse for president other than the two golfing seniors for 2024 anyway i digress

“Hey.” Ben’s voice is soft and careful, close to her ear. oh I fucking love this (whispering, because this moment is tender and sacred)

He eases her out of the car, remembering to grab her socks, and then walks her up the brick stairs to a lovely, quaint little home that she remembers passing on some of her long distance training runs during the cross country season.

She had always envied it for its simplicity, for the little flower pots in the window ledges, for the sweet little porch swing on the front deck. It looked like a place where people were happy. It looked like a home...

A familiar ache rises up in her as she turns, taking it all in — the way the home is so lived in, so worn, so well-loved...

She swipes at her eyes, turning to face him with a strange and misplaced guilt.

Her face burns. She isn’t sure what to say to that. She has lived with Poe and Finn for almost a year, but even now it is strange to her, the idea that someone might worry on her behalf. The idea that someone cares.

Yours. It’s a curious choice of words. There aren’t many things that belong to her in this world, and she knows for a fact that this isn’t one of them. Still, as she melts into the cotton sheets and the seemingly infinite pillows, her eyelids so heavy that they feel like molasses, she lets all of her usual defenses fall to the wayside. Despite everything, she feels comfortable here. Despite everything, she feels … safe.

these few paragraphs detailing Rey's experience in the Solo cottage is one of the main reasons why I come back to this fic - I still remember the first time I read that sentence "it looked like a place where people were happy, it looked like a home" and how Rey reacted - I bawled my eyes out because I was also in the middle of losing a sense of home so to speak when I read this, and I felt so seen in seeing the same feelings through Rey's eyes here - that helpless feelng of the embarassment of missing out on what everyone else take for granted - and it made me feel less alone and helped dry out that really raw, wet sense of grief a leetle bit more to something more manageable every time I went back to read it ❤️‍🩹🥹💙

also Ben readily offering to Rey things like friendship to fall back on in hard times, an open ear and heart and home to take you in, a safe and strong presence through a night(s) of crisis, a nice, soft, warm bed to rest in, someone to say to you “I would have worried about you if you hadn’t," someone to care about you, someone to make you a meal 💛- was very healing to read and be reminded of 🌿🌿🌿

She barrels into him so hard that it almost knock the wind out of her. She would have ended up with her butt on the floor, but Ben’s instincts are quicker than hers, and he reaches out and steadies her before she plummets — which unfortunately, ends with her pressed up against him so close that she nearly bangs into his chin with her forehead.

mmmm chin rest height is optimal couple height diff 🤭

But most of all, she is embarrassed by his tenderness. Embarrassed by the way he has inconvenienced himself for her, and gone to all this trouble, when she is not worth it by any degree. She has nothing to offer him, no way to thank him.

“You don’t have to thank me,” he says slowly, his bewilderment incongruous with her panic, with the way she scurries toward the door.

“I do, though,” she says, her eyes stinging with her embarrassment.

this whole exchange ending with the "you don't have any shoes oh and btw I washed ur underwear" first off is fucking excellent nay perfect comedic timing, but also REY!!! I want to give you such a big hug for being so human (when I first went to see Force Awakens with a bff she mentioned how she loved how Rey was able to cry so freely and keep and protect her tenderness while surviving in a harsh desert and that comment has always stuck with me), dear writer (toes? toesy? idk what to call writer) you light these complex emotions in such stark relief and in such a familiar and recognizable way they become a lot less lonelier and scarier to face as a result 💖💖💖

I thought the ch. 1 ending was fucking perfect so of course as I usually do, fucking screeched upon seeing a continuation

first off, LMAO @ Hurricane Kylo

Ahch-To University 😂 so IRL Ahch-To is an Irish island named Skellige Michael that is still on my bucketlist of places to visit (apparently it is very weather-dependent and a bit difficult to reach, via local boats only)

She raises an eyebrow at him. It’s the first time she has directly looked at him, and it is like staring at the sun. 🥺🥰

I love the reversal in fortune with Rey now coming to rescue Ben amidst his own storm and the little mystery woven in the breadcrumbs of Rey-left-after-last-semester and seeing Rey, truly, from Ben's eyes and heart and his crush showing in so many cute little ways 🥰🥰🥰

How he sometimes let himself imagine following her, asking her out for coffee, getting to know her, or even…

even what? EVEN WHAT BEN???? HMMM??? TELL US, THIS IS A SPICY SAFE SPACE-

He crouches beside her as low to the ground as he can get. Too late he realizes that her faces in inches from his. Her eyes are shut, her skin ghostly pale against the smear of blood on her forehead, but she still seems a lot more calm than he feels right now, his heart beating in too many places at once.

The rain impossibly starts to beat down even harder, the roar of it unimaginable. Rey’s mouth opens wide and he realizes even though he can’t hear it that she’s laughing out loud.

Only then does the chaos seem somewhat manageable. Only then does the beat of his heart seem to find some semblance of a normal rhythm. No matter what happens in this upside down world, they’re in this together. 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹

I have been on a journey processing and sifting the poison and the balm from my religious upbringing so TW for some church-ish talk but I am reminded of tale of a certain carpenter's son sleeping in the midst of a storm - an image that I have always loved - I used to imagine during storms so to speak that I always had a safe haven of open arms waiting for me and inviting me to rest instead of fight or freak out - and wake up to see the storm abated, and not alone - and for some reason this little tidbit recalls that story, that feeling, and that image of peace in the midst of storms for me

alternately reminded of Lt. Nate Fick's speech from Generation Kill on the humvee wheel he was taking cover in during a firefight being 'the safest place in the world' - often not a matter of what and why but where and who you are with that brings much perspective 💙✨

Rey winces slightly, and Ben immediately regrets asking. In that moment the wind dies down just enough that there is no denying the tension between them. She pulls away, just slightly, enough that their bodies are still touching but nowhere near as intimately as before.

this is so real - many times our body speaks when our words can't

This time the gesture is so thoughtless, so innate, that he doesn’t even realize he’s moved until his fingers are skimming her forehead, pushing the hair back from her face. Her eyes lock on his, wide with surprise and a kind of hunger in them — never taking her gaze off of him, she leans ever-so-slightly into his touch, like someone who is both wary of affection and longing for it all at once.

I love this story's Ben in how easily he loves Rey in thought and words and gesture, I found it very healing to read about such a man but also in my later reads - inspirational, encouraging, and exemplary for me to be the same - and seek and coax it out of those around me ❤️❤️❤️

“She had a good, long life,” she says, in that optimistic way of hers. “I’m just glad I got to be a part of it.” I hope to say this of my IRL and tumblr beloveds and moots as well 🌿✨

She has always seemed so untethered, so separate from everyone else. It is the reason he was so drawn to her — he has always felt out of place himself, despite his best efforts. But now that he has some understanding of Rey’s past, however small it is, he feels some part of his heart cinching for her in some unfamiliar, powerful way. In those moments, he seems to absorb her sadness as if it is his own, and it is a burden he is more than willing to bear. 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹

“I’m Rey,” she says, almost merrily. “And this is the second time your son has saved my ass.” 😂😂😂 alexa, play smooth operator by sade (yeah im gonna bring this meme back, watch me)

His father tosses back the phone and Rey catches it deftly, dialing a number she must know by heart. I appreciate this detail of foster rey memorizing phone numbers of close contacts 🫂❤️‍🩹

As terrifying as the ordeal was, there was something so intimate in it, some unknowable shared feeling that passed between them, and now … he can already feel it peeling away, as if it never happened. He can already see the sun spilling out of the clouds, people poking their heads out of their doors, the the world resuming in its ordinary way, and it’s all somehow insulting to the profundity of what just happened to them.

Fucking incredible paragraph, I'm pretty much nearly speechless at this point

well all this to say, I found this fic this fic found me when I was at a low point in my life, shone a light down into my little hole/valley and made me remember I could find the strength within me to climb out - and take the hands of friends and recognize the presence of beloveds ready to meet me where I was and help me climb out together...

...and I am incredibly, incredibly grateful that I started reading beyond the Explicit/Inappropriate Use of the Force Bond tagged reylo fics to find this gem