#I wish I could feel invested in the fandom but honestly I have too many issues with the one I'm thinking of

[companionofthetimelords]

Anyone else struggle with not being super invested in a particular fandom, and maybe even more so not invested in a particular pairing or ship from that fandom, but because it's popular and you have mutuals or people you follow who are super into it you see so much absolutely drop dead gorgeous art of that particular pairing/ship, and you're stuck in this position where the art is breath taking and you want to support the artist and like and reblog their work, but at the same time it's not really your thing, like you're not personally into the thing outside of "it's pretty" which leads to this weird hollow disingenuous feeling if you do interact with the thing, and like you're the only one that would know you don't actually really care about the thing, but it makes you feel sort of gross/fake idk how to explain it. I know I could just block the tags but like it's not like I hate the the fandom or even the pairing it just doesn't speak to me and I find myself in this weird space where I want to be supportive of the art and love being put into the thing but not actually involve myself with the thing.

[iloveundertaesooomuch]

Some advice from AU Calebs!

Heck yeah I did it! Finally i finished ONE of the HUNDREDS AU crossover ideas I have in my head!! Crossovers are fun guys!! (I apologise for a bad english in advance. Writing this it a rush.)

"It's ok to ask for help." (A Reverse Of Feathers And Mud by @jess-the-vampire)

I couldn't make a crossover meme without the legend. Sorry, not sorry. He is such a sad lad but tries to stay positive and be happy for his family uydfykudsutsudskudsluds (*dies*). I have to admitt, Caleb's dad energy is too strong for me to handle without wanting a hug him. No wonder! He was THE grandpa for centuries straight without a break. At least Caleb gets his whole family together in the end. Comics with him and either Hunter and Philip or Luz and Eda make me run in cirles around the room aaaa.

"You are not a burden." (Brother's Keeper by @idoodlestuffsometimes)

Damn, you definetly created one of the darkest AU in the fandom. Each time I re-read AU related posts I scream my lungs out because it is so angsty and so great. I am genuinely scared of your Belos ngl, because.. this man didnt loose anything and he still proceeds to do all that stuff. Enconter with him has 0 survival rate.

POOR CALEB! At least in the world of memes he had an opportunity to flee the captivity twice (the bald head and the car). This man had no moment of mental rest for centuries oh my God. One of my friends wants to fight his brother personally to protec Caleb at all cost sksksk. Well, at least Hunter will always have an actually loving relative! And if the happy ending is going to be canon, I think the future looks great, especially knowing how much pain all your characters go through currently. (And I think both Caleb and Hunter would need the "you are not a burdain" affirmations. At least some form of support in their situation.)

You said in the latest ask-answer that BK!Caleb was supposed to have white streaks in his hair so I attempted to add them. Hope they look fine! Colors for the outfit I got from Belos, so they would match, I guess???

"Murder is okay." (Loose Strings by @oldmanpip)

My bro, brother, friend... Despite you being not to involved on the discord server, my brain is still rotting with your great awesome AUs. And I know you know that. Your Caleb is really loose in all sences of that word and I love that. Wonder if your AUs will ever be available to the public. Because oh boy oh boy they deserve to be recognised. (Loose Caleb is such a conservative grandpa who never did anything wrong, wdym?)

"Your feelings matter." (Pip In Time by @celestialscribbler)

Honestly? Man, your comic is the reason I got invested in Witteclaw couple at all. Even if the "Pip in time" is not their story, but you wrote their teen romance so sweetly. Those two melted my heart... I scream each time I re-read your comic for 100th time. Just WOAH my brain goes brrr! And Caleb as a character is also written really really well. I love him so much. He is such good brother but MAN HE NEEDS A BREAK FROM BEING AN ADULT! BOY! Insirt crying and heart emojis here.

(PS: hope you still care about your health!)

My thoughts:

I have been drawing this for more than a month I think? And the only reason for that is my university. I hope to actually get an ADHD diagnosis because something is clearly wrong with me. But thats not the point.

There are so many ideas in my head. Goofy and not. The only problem is that I have less and less ability to do what I want lately. I wish I could bring them all to life, but at the same I dont know if anyone will be interested. Would AU crossovers look too self-indulgent? Or nah? Idk. (Just Grimwalker-Isle already has so much potential for stupid ridiculous fun I am runnin on coffee juice.)

Litteraly my mind is plagued with different fun plots and possibilities I am going crazy. But I also have A TON of WIPs that I need to finish. Perhaps I will attempt to manage everything at once, but, no promises.

Wish me luck on my exams!

[on-a-lucky-tide]

Curious what you'd say about Soap for the character ask game. You haven't really spoken about him as much as the others so I'm curious :O (id love to hear about every single character tho i wont lie to you but i have a feeling you'll get asked about those lol)

@nekrosmos asked for Soap too.

Honestly? There is unfortunately a reason. I lingered around fandom for a good few months before I got involved at all. I saw some behaviour from his fanbase that I didn't like and so I made the conscious choice that he's not a character I'd probably be creating much for. I love the art, happy to support creators, etc. Besides, there are so many delicious, delicious rarepairs to love and create for and plenty of gallant, productive, devoted Ghoapers.

He's quite compelling though, and I've got quite a few thoughts and headcanons, and I'm happy to write prompts with him. A few friends on Discord really love him and I like to create for them too, cause happy friends give me the fuzzies. So, you know, a story idea might grip me by the balls and I'll wack out a long form thing.

favorite thing about them

His journals.

Reading those finally gave me a connection with his character that I hadn't developed previously. But they really show how driven he is, how much he wants to be the best he can be, so he's not a burden, so he doesn't let anyone down. He's constantly striving to earn his place to the point that it kills him in the end.

I think he genuinely struggles with wanting to be liked (as part of 'earning his place'), and I think he is often too much for people. Ghost giving back as good as he gets is a comfortable relationship because the line for Ghost is way, way in the distance; Johnny doesn't have to worry like he does with 'normal' people. Neither of them is fuckin' normal.

Price giving him a chance would have been the first step towards the hero-style worship he has for him. "What? Me? Ye want... me? Aye, aye I will be the best fuckin' dog ye ever had, I will bite my own leg off for ye." Everything Soap does is to prove that Price didn't make a mistake. That he was a good investment. And Price, the sly fucker, knows it. He sees himself there.

least favorite thing about them

I wish they had given him a stronger accent and leaned more into that in the games. In fact, I wish that for all of them.

I also think that Soap has capacity to cause great harm without even realising it. Like, we get glimpses of it; he's nearly court-martialled for punching out a copper. In his single-minded pursuit of something, I reckon there could be a lot of collateral damage.

He lacks confidence but will cover it up by being an arsehole and doing arsehole things (such as smuggling a girl on base to impress The Guys). I say I like "least favourite"; I think this makes him compelling as a character. He's not all sunshine and rainbows. He's just as gritty, professional and flawed as the rest of 'em.

favorite line

"You sick bastard..."

"My kingdom for a suppressor..."

"Price?... This belongs to you, sir."

brOTP

Gaz & Soap

OTP

Uh... none really. Ghost/Soap?

nOTP

Don't have any strong feelings on any.

random headcanon

He's really bad at team sport. He showed no interest in any when he was growing up. Gym? Running? Swimming? Anything where the only competition is himself and his own limits? That's where Soap's head is.

unpopular opinion

Honestly? I don't know which of my opinions would be unpopular. Probably the 'not sunshine and rainbows' one, maybe?

song i associate with them

favorite picture of them

[luniviravosshipper]

This is like a really stupid but weirdly big fear I’ve gotten since interacting with the fandom, but lately I’ve been scared of the idea that I might not actually, like, get Rayllum.

I complain so much about how other TDP critical people in the fandom have a tendency to assume that the show isn’t multi-layered as a result of their inability or straight up refusal to perceive the different layers of the show, but honestly sometimes I get really worried that I do that too. And particularly with characters like Rayla and Callum and their relationship.

Because, besides simply being critical of some of their writing, I also sometimes genuinely find myself just… not able to comprehend what so much of the appeal is of their relationship or them as individual characters.

I feel like I have really, really lost my investment in them as individual characters and as a pairing since season 4. I mean, Rayla was my absolute most favorite character in the entire show when it was just arc 1 out. Like, she really was. And now she’s just… not? For some reason that I’m not entirely sure of myself ?? And it’s not just ‘cause of some things I’m critical of, because there’s actually a lot of things (especially with Callum) I like about them more in arc 2 then I did in arc 1. And I just I can’t help regardless but to wonder if my lack in engagement in their relationship dynamic has impaired my ability to accurately judge their writing.

But besides all that, so many times too I just look at the fandom and just feel so out of place. Like, I just don’t get why they’re so popular. That isn’t meant as a “oh there’s nothing there to like” or “it doesn’t make sense to like”—no. I legitimately, honestly have no idea why I myself don’t seem to like them as much anymore when it’s become so apparent they’ve gained even more popularity over the years.

I really wish I could look through the lens of what other people see who love their characters so much when watching the show. I really want to understand what the rest of the fandom is on about that I’m missing out on.

[olderthannetfic]

i saw this post today where this person was talking abt fandom racism and was pointing out some real issues within my fandom and favorite ship that I too had noticed… but then kept bringing it back to the lack of one particular other ship they liked, when it's like, no that's not the problem, and that ship is unpopular because those characters have zero romantic or sexual chemistry and barely any scenes together. (it was really funny that someone had reblogged this to take their 'lack of seeing this one character in a sexual way in fic miiight be racist' complaint to be like 'i think you're right! we should have more fic about [a long list of different ships involving that character with people they have ACTUAL chemistry with].' it was really funny. ofc op totally missed the point they were making there.) anyway i just feel like way too many useful conversations about this stuff are ruined by people making it about shipping or other really subjective fandom preferences. i get that this is because something like 'number of fics X ship or character has on ao3' is an objective measure, and something like 'level of orientalism in how a lot of people are writing this desi character' is not, but i wish people would realize it tends to alienate more people that it converts. and ime, it's often the people who maybe would most benefit from hearing those criticisms (e.g. are writing unintentionally racist stuff in their works, and are someone who would want to know about that and how to do it differently) who tune it out the second you make it into insulting their shipping preferences.

i mean, there WAS some real racism in the star wars sequels fandom, including among the fanfic/shipping side. not just the shitty dudes harassing kelly marie tran. we saw the really bizarre 'predator' language people directed at john boyega just for making some joke posts on instagram about disliking reylo and its shippers. it was the very classic racist thing where people see something as automatically more threatening when a black man does it. ....but how many people had already tuned all that out because the people most outspoken about the racism in the fandom kept reducing it to 'if you ship reylo over finnrey, or kylux over finnpoe, you're a racist'? it's like a boy who cried wolf thing. if you've shown that you can't uncouple serious discussions and concerns from just being pissy that your otp is not more popular, people are going to see you as someone who can't be taken seriously and then ignore you when you do have a real complaint. it's like how i'm sure that some of stitch's essays are thoughtful and important, but i have no desire to read stuff by someone who is infamous for harassing people just for what they ship. i don't feel like i can take any of that person's judgments about fandoms i'm not in, for instance, seriously.

that's not to say fandom preferences in shipping can't ever be influenced by racism (or other 'isms') but is it ever really *that* specifically that is the problem, or the broader pattern it is part of? and i feel like 'maybe fandom is a little too focused on het and slash ships between two young skinny conventionally attractive white people' is a message more people are open to than 'your specific white M/M or F/M otp is racist'

anyway it reminds me of the stuff i've seen sometimes in academic fandom studies about how you can't really honestly study a fandom where you're deeply mired in its discourse - you need to focus your work on fandoms that you're familiar with but not in that way. and i think that maybe also applies to some of these discussions about fandom racism and misogyny. maybe you're just going to have better takes on something when you're not deeply invested in other unrelated arguments about it, like about which ship is the most popular. like i could not care less about star wars shipping and have zero take in reylo vs. finnrey, so that's why i feel like i could trust my perception that the way a small minority of reylos were posting about john boyega's instagram posts was racist. it didn't matter if he was genuinely being a jerk to them or about their ship. he obviously wasn't a 'predator' and it was pretty telling language for a group of largely white people to use about a black man making fun of their ship on a different social media site.

--

The laying pipe thing was blown so out of proportion, yes. Call it sexist, sure, but it wasn't fucking predatory.

[spidermanifested]

@canirim clapping my hands okay Mei Paninya Scar. Lets Go

MEI

sexuality headcanon: Baby Bi. i think that she does not yet know that girls are also a viable romantic option but if she realized she would be over the moon about it. transfem al is a fun concept and i think if that happened she would go all in on the new fantasy of BEING SWEPT OFF HER FEET BY A BEAUTIFUL LADY KNIGHT

gender headcanon: once again i dont have anything too spectacular. shes gods specialest princess and shes never going to die

a ship i have with said character: her and al are pretty cute i guess although im not hyper invested in them

a brotp i have with said character: her and scar are literally everything. she shoupd have been allowed to kill people for disrespecting him on screen

a notp i have with said character: have not seen any mei ships aside from al/mei honestly? Which i mean is. for the best given this fandoms track record

a random headcanon: i envision that part of the reason shes so comfortable adopting random middle aged men is that she was largely raised by her mothers extended family after said mother died in childbirth. her clan is very tight-knit anyway and she's never had a reason Not to trust the adults around her, they all treat her like their own daughter which both gives her a very optimistic view of people in general and also leaves her feeling that deep sense of obligation to return the favor somehow. she knows all their lives are resting on her shoulders and THEY know its fucked up to be relying on a child for something like that but also they dont have much of an alternative. theyre all just trying to do the best they can. I Thinnk About This A Lot

general opinion over said character: mei chang i would kill the sun for you

PANINYA

sexuality headcanon: Romantically Inexperienced Awkward Teenage Lesbian

gender headcanon: i think when she grows up she should get butcher. not the profession. theres too many of thosr in fma already

a ship i have with said character: winry/paninya is really cute....... and honestly i liked their interactions in 03 better than the manga or brotherhood, they should get to be partners in crime and do stupid shit together. wish we got to see more of them hanging out in rush valley

a brotp i have with said character: i like that her and garfiel are buddies

a notp i have with said character: ???

a random headcanon: i fully believe the only reason she had the guns put in her legs was because she thougjt it would be cool. she convinced dominic on grounds of self defense but she absolutely was just thinking wouldnt it be sick if my knees had guns in them

General Opinion over said character: she has such a fun personality and design and i wish, so hard her storyline was different. its agonizing to watch her episode seeing her go yeah so i lost my whole family and home and also my legs in an incredibly traumatizing childhood accident and then an adult man kidnapped me off the street and forced me to undergo painful invasive surgical procedures against my will. But like i can walk again so it was pretty great of him actually and i can only hope to repay his generosity someday. Girl you do not need a random stranger chastising you for stealing from rich tourists. you need therapy to come to terms with the fact that uour right to bodily autonomy was infringed upon,

SCAR

sexuality headcanon: could be gay could be bi i dont really have him pinned down as anything but "very repressed". i dont think hes ever been in a relationship, hes always seemed to have way bigger priorities, but with him i dont feel like that translates to "UNINTERESTED in relationships" because of how much of his character revolves around denying himself comfort and identity. i think if somebody kissed him he would cry

gender headcanon: i dont think hed describe himself as anything besides a man if you asked him, but i also think his experience of gender is also one of those things that got a little foggy and disconnected along with the other identity related baggage. Gender: A Necessary Violence and the Only Means to Achieve It. whatever pride flag goes with that one

a ship i have with said character: still championing my scar/greed agenda

a brotp i have with said character: aside from him and mei, his relationship with his brother is very interesting to me and i like to stir around all the complicated feelings he has to have about that guy in the soup of my mind

a notp i have with said character: ive seen him get shipped with olivier sometimes. Dont really like that one i must say

a random headcanon: when he was a teenager he used to privately write poetry and then got really embarrassed about its perceived amateurish shortcomings and stopped forever

general opinion over said character: the single most interesting and layered character in the whole series honestly and once again i wish we didnt take That Direction with him towards the end. all his thoughts and feelings are so tangled up, i love the way he cant seem to help but attract community and compassion despite how hard he tries to shake it off, whatever he thinks of himself hes still at his core an incredibly kind person clinging to a reason to survive. Save me mr xbox logo

[bratgoatswiss]

Apologies for length, have to save the cut for spoilers.

I FINISHED VEILGUARD!

I have. So many thoughts and emotions about it and I'm still processing but I just wanted to counter some of the vitriol I'm seeing from people who are doing the Fandom thing with what I hope are reasonable, normal thoughts. Ha. Haha. Anyway. Mostly spoiler free but there's one small thing and one BIG thing that is that I'll put under the read more.

There was a lot to like about this game. The combat was fun and I think upon a 2nd playthrough it'll be even better. Some of it could get repetitive but its not a big gripe.

The characters were very endearing and felt well fleshed out as people and I enjoyed spending time with them. Most of the side quests were related to your companions in some way and I thought that was clever. Some were more interesting than others.

The writing has been contentious and I can see why. It can get cheesy and predictable in places, but overall I thought it was very similar to DA2. I enjoyed it and thought it reflected some realistic responses to what was happening around you. If you're here for gritty edgelord shit 24/7 go play Dark Souls you weirdo.

I can only speak for the Lucanis romance cause I love an angsty man, but it was perhaps, underpadded. It was slow and sweet and I did like it very much but I could have used some...more you know? I didn't even get to see my own tits and that's tragic.

Solas. I did not romance the egg in DAI. I do not like the egg. I liked how I got to handle the egg. So much. I've seen the Lavellan romance scenes and if there's any uproar from the Sollavellans (one l or 2?) it's because they didn't let you see the 2 of them fuck nasty in high definition for an hour. It's Rooks story now. You're fine. Go write fanfiction.

The lore. Hoo boy. Honestly they really did put everything in a blender and fished out what they liked. Everything is made up and the points don't matter. I don't LOVE that they retconned so much of what was in Origins. Zevran and the Crows especially seems really odd. I THINK the idea is that it's been like 20-30ish years since all that and stuff has changed or information was wrong or inaccurate or whatever? But that seems lazy. I wish they'd addressed it more with SOMETHING. But also there's 3 games worth of lore, not to mention comics and novels and like. I get it. But consistency guys. Add more codex entries or something. This is my biggest gripe. It did not impact my enjoyment too much. I loved what was added.

Spoilers below

That ending was so ABRUPT?! At least with DAI you got a ending party and final scene with your LI but here you get some end cards and voice over? I would have accepted that if we were getting DLC but this?? This is insane! Bioware I am begging on my knees to give us at least a "well we did it!" scene. The ending was epic but the ENDING was a disappointment.

Now. The suicide mission. I spent [redacted] number of hours investing blood, sweat, and tears of friendship into these 7 assholes and there is NO way to save 1 of them?? And you have to choose between Harding and Davrin??? Just those 2?? There should be a way to save them! Don't give me the no matter what crap! I don't want CONSEQUENCES I want FRIENDSHIP. If you could do it in ME2 you should be able to do it here. Also. Can we not have it be 50/50 heroic sacrifice with a black man? Like. I know you can technically choose but like why make it an option. It just feels weird.

So yeah. Initial thoughts and feelings. Overall good with some stuff I really disliked. I will be normal about this eventually.

I'll probably regret sending this out into the world when the sollavellens find me. Oh well.

[archaeren]

Hi Ren,

it's lavenderlight over from ao3!

I'm crossing my fingers that the infamous tumblr-ask-box-situation won't swallow my message! xD

I hope I'm not overstepping (and I don't expect a reply) but I just thought I'd check in - I know you've got discord but I don't think I have the spoons currently to make an account lol

So, good old tumblr it is :D

Anyway - I wanted to wish you happy holidays and let you know that I've been thinking of you (and your depiction of Chui ( 〃▽〃) ) and that LC:LS meant quite a lot to me over the past year - and continues to mean a lot to me.

Honestly, I keep thinking (constantly!!) about all of the chapters so far, imagining how the story might unfold in the future -

So, yeah. I hope you're doing alright and I'll look forward to any possible updates!! <3

Wishing you nice company, a warm blanket and a hot drink of your choice for the holidays!!

OMG hello!! You're not overstepping at all, this is so sweet aaaaa!! <3 <3 <3 I don't know how to say that it means a lot to me that the story matters to you so much. I look forward to your comments on every chapter SO MUCH, they're so thorough and thoughtful, every one of them is like a little gift. I'm so curious what other kinds of things you find yourself thinking about the chapters so far and the ones that have yet to come! It really does mean a lot to know someone else is thinking about it so much. It's a rarepair--the number of English language authors including the migikisa ship at all (let alone focusing on it) can be counted on one hand!--in a tiny fandom. (Someone recently asked me about how many longfics were in the Eng JJ fandom and I was able to rattle off all their titles and author names... because there are only three of them, and one of them is mine. XD) In such a niche pairing, it's easy to feel lonely, especially as one of the sole creators for it. You can't help but wonder sometimes if other people think you're weird or even annoying for being so invested. It can feel isolating. So for someone to say it means that much to them... it's really validating. <3 I got a bit sidetracked lately by doing fanart instead of writing, which is most of why I haven't updated recently. The art brain has a stranglehold on the writing brain! (I started writing again on Friday so I could update on Sunday and then on Saturday I was gripped by the drive to draw Chui as a character from Cult of the Lamb and that consumed my entire weekend... oops.) Actually, you're the one that inspired that art shift. It was that comment you left on Chapter 14, where you mentioned reading a quote that said, “People hate their own art because it looks like they made it. They think if they get better, it will stop looking like they made it. A better person made it. But there’s no level of skill beyond which you stop being you. You hate the most valuable thing about your art.” I thought about that a lot after you said it and it really changed my perspective on my own art. I draw more now than I have in years, and I usually even like what I draw! Even though I can still see its flaws and still see my own influence on it, I've really made a lot of peace with that. It's been really eye-opening and empowering. I really want to get an LC:LS update out today or tomorrow because we're finally hitting the winter performance and the timeline of coinciding with IRL Christmas is just too good. I wish I could post one today and one tomorrow for the timing but I'm not sure I'll have time to finish them both and I'm not sure people would have time to read them anyway! I will probably content myself with one. XD Anyway, if you ever do decide to make a discord I would love to talk more! You can also just lurk in the server that's linked on LC:LS, though I feel like you would be a great addition to the culture c: Thank you so much again for messaging and I hope you have a wonderful holiday (with a few moments to spare for thinking Chui thoughts! I know I will be, hehe <3 )

[flecks-of-stardust]

expanding on the shipping thing, especially since i made that shipping tagging request recently, like. i don't have an issue with shipping, whatever that... even really means, because to be honest i don't even fully know what people use it to mean. like seriously, when someone says they're a 'shipper' i literally do not understand what exactly they're referring to, because there are so many ways you can 'ship' something.

romantic relationships between characters can be interesting and incredibly so. artihunter, as an example from rain world, has a lot of interesting directions you can take narratively, irrespective of whether you take it in a romantic direction or in a platonic direction or a familial direction or what have you. the tragedy of loving someone you know you're going to lose; having to confront the idea that despite all your flaws, someone still loves you for who you are; mourning and grieving and ultimately moving on with someone who just Gets It at your side; etc etc etc, artihunter can be so interesting, and it's nice to see when artists tap into that. and the same can be said about a lot of other ships probably, rain world or otherwise.

and this isn't to say that shipping—romantic, platonic, whatever, but let's be real we're mostly talking romantic here—that isn't narratively weighty, ie stuff that's just 'these two characters are invested in each other lives and there's nothing more to it,' that's not Bad. that's not boring. sometimes that too can have narrative weight, and i like it. like, i'm not opposed to shipping, if that's how it comes off sometimes. i just like stories, ones that explore concepts and themes, regardless of what the medium may be. if it's told from the perspective of characters who are romantically invested in each other, sure, cool. i am okay with that. just in general, shipping doesn't have to have. like. story, or narrative significance or whatever to be 'good.'

i just. i don't fucking care for a lot of it. it's not interesting to Me. before i started mass blocking ship tags i would see a lot of art that was kind of just the same thing over and over again, like character A doing some classic romantic thing with character B and it's. that's it. it's not new and there's no story and the point of it is that these two characters are romantically interested in each other and i don't. care. i really, really don't. some people enjoy it! it's really interesting to other people! and that's fine! i can't say i haven't occasionally looked at ship art and smiled at the characters being cute. it was made with care and passion and it shows.

my problem with ship content in general is the oversaturation of ship content in fandom. i can't say how much there is since i have so many tags blocked, but i'd be willing to bet that it's at least 50% of all content made for a particular piece of media. which... is disheartening, you know. especially as an aromantic person. i have to sift through so fucking much shit that doesn't interest me and has no relevance to me to find something that's actually interesting. to an extent it makes me kind of bitter because it feels like most people just run to make romantic headcanons of the characters for the sake of shipping, and then devote their time into doing just that. that's probably a gross exaggeration of how a lot of people are, but at times that's really how it feels. there's so much fandom content, so much community content, that just... is not relevant to me at all. it gets alienating.

i don't really have a point to make with this post, a lot of this is just me rambling because i'm up way too late, but. i dunno. just thoughts. i don't actually mind shipping. i just wish more of the ship content i could see has more. story weight to it i guess. because then i actually have something to be invested in.

it makes me sad having all these tags blocked, honestly. i miss out on so much art. which is part of the problem. do you get it?

[dennisboobs]

i know peace bc ive never used twitter it seems like ur torturing urself a bit

yeah. but honestly if i can make like. one person stop fucking harassing glenn i'll take it. idgaf about these idiots qrting me trying to make fun of me, i don't want them anywhere near my twt (free blocklist) and they'll forget about it in an hour anyway. but some people have seemingly genuinely thought about it and agreed after a little pushback. it's mostly a bunch of teens who want to be edgy or think glenn has no feelings because he's a C list celebrity with a nice house. i don't think many people bother trying to push back against the accepted culture over there and most of them seemingly don't even think about it. i don't know why but twitter culture just. expects you to be incredibly fucking rude to celebrities on principle even if you like them. and this is. encouraged. and applauded. i think its disgusting, and ive been on the receiving end of parasocial relationships that had people getting overly invested in me and my friend, completely fucking obliterated any boundaries and speculated about our genders/sexuality/relationship so its. kind of personal. i hate to see it and i can empathize with glenn to a degree. especially when like. you compare other clips of him at cons or even on the podcast where he's WAY more reserved talking too deeply abt queer shit vs those encounters with fans, the guy was having the time of his fucking life with a bunch of superfans who let him know how much they care about his work. i really, really wish that we were on our best behaviour and a bunch of fucking 15 yr olds who have never been called a slur a day in their life and don't know the weight of their words weren't creating a hostile space for both sunnytwt and for glenn. why do you, as a fan, not want to be able to interact respectfully with someone you admire? why do you not want to treat him as a human being? like there's a difference between deifying a celeb vs being fucking respectful. it's not like this is elon musk it's fuckin. glenn. like he is so. just a guy. treat him like one. i can't help but feel bad when 90% of what he sees from fans are people in the comments of his posts bullying him. like why would you not want this man to know how insane he makes you on a daily basis. why are you so afraid of expressing genuine emotion that you have to harass him. bc its cringe to say you like sunny? that's the extent of his fucking interactions with fans. of course he's stoked to talk to fans who have actual love for the show. he probably never fucking sees it. and you know. its frustrating to see people who were THERE. interacting with him in person. now doing this shit. my own mutuals were doing that shit. i follow like 6 people on sunnytwt. its just. accepted. idk. i don't know how to phrase this in a way that makes sense but if you enjoy glenn's interactions with the fandom so much maybe dont fucking push him away. if there are a bunch of ppl qrting his old tweets with what seems like actual literal hate. idk. id start deleting if i were him. like there are just zero fucking boundaries and it makes me mad. why would you do this shit when you could take advantage of him being accessible and tell him how much sunny + dennis means to you instead.

[rjmhereunderprotest]

Elora & Cynder: A Triangle in the Mind

Shipping in Fandom seldom makes any sense. This coming from someone who hopelessly follows the relationships of far too many fictional people. For one, we all get way too invested in a romance that is even more out of our control than usual. We also tend to overanalyze, project onto and impose our own values concerning romance onto these characters.

And then of course there’s always the big fight that crops up, the quest to be canon. To see our choice of a pairing validated in the actual story. Because it’s the big win, it says the creators listened to you, that you had a hand in either creating this outcome or you solved the matchmaking mystery for the franchise. It’s literally people chasing after the fabled Marvel No-Prize, all you get is momentary satisfaction that your romantic preference won out.

Frankly, as time has gone on, I’ve found the desire to be canon more and more silly on its own merits. Is it nice to know your ship is confirmed? Of course! Is it extremely satisfy to watch said ship either finalize or progress? Very much so. Is it worth screaming at people on the internet over or harassing creatives on twitter or writing revenge and fix fics if it doesn’t go your way? No, never. That's the sign of a very insecure person. I was personally shocked to find out some fans of “Road to El Doraldo” hate Chell and write her as a conniving two-faced thief who betray Tulio and Miguel the first chance she gets… because they want the two dudes to get together. And my first thought upon learning that was, beside the semi-racist connotations of turning the lone native character in the main cast into a villain, a very simple question. One that YouTube Shit Poster come Professional Voice Actor ProZD, SungWon Cho, asked… “Why don’t they all just F--k each other?”

That never seems to be the answer doesn’t it? Despite the obvious resolution of just making some throuple or threesome or polyamorous/harem situation, most fans reject that option. They gravitate to singular ownership, a traditional coupling regardless of gender orientation. Mainly because that seems to be the socially acceptable dynamic. That romantic love cannot be shared and must be exclusive. Anything else is a fantasy. Not say no one likes stories that feature non-traditional relationships, it’s just the majority of fans prefer romances to be between two people. Despite all the toxic crap they cause, no one seems to want to resolve a love triangle in what appears to be the easiest method that makes everyone a winner.

I think it’s this natural affinity towards competition that gives shipping such a weird dynamic within fandom. I’ve always found it odd that no one can just be happy with their romantic preferences, they have to be made canon. If not, well, sometimes the most extreme reaction to that is disowning the whole IP and declaring it ruined forever. I can name more than a few people who didn’t just go down with their ships, but wished to torch the whole franchise as they sunk. So strong is the feeling of betrayal it seems among fans that creatives going a different way with their characters romance wise can result in such explosive reactions from the fanbase.

However, some shipping wars have an easier resolution than the threesome option. Ever since the multiverse opened up as a mainstream concept in storytelling, pretty much anything is possible now. You could just have either side of the shipping war win in one timeline over the other and vice versa. Everyone gets to win, I’ve argued this point myself, that it honestly would not hurt anyone for Felicia Hardy and Peter Parker to be a canon pairing in at least one universe within the Spider-verse. But even here, people are adamant. One ship must reign supreme across all worlds. Anything else is breaking the canon.

I just find it strange, that in this one area, it seems everyone agrees with Miguel O’Hara concerning Canon Events. Everything else is authoritarian dogma, but don’t you DARE let Peter Parker marry anyone else but this specific hot redhead!

And the Spider-verse is not alone, it seems that even the expanse of the multiverse and alternate timelines cannot stop people from putting their foot down. One Ship to rule them all and that’s where we finally discuss our subject for today, well, subjects to be more exact.

The “Spyro the Dragon” franchise is probably not the most explicit example of this sort of shipping war, but it is the most blatant in this aspect. The famous 90s mascot platformer wasn’t always an example of this, but circumstances arose to create a love triangle that exists nowhere save inside the minds of fans. The tip of the triangle, Spyro himself, the spunky purple dragon who flies, headbutts and torches his enemies while being too cool for school. The romantic rivals in question? Elora the Faun and Cynder the Black Dragon. The former, the defacto leader of a forgotten realm fighting against a vile usurper. The latter, a kidnapped dragon twisted into a villain only to be saved and thrust on a quest for redemption. Two romances for one dragon hero. There’s just one thing…

They don’t exist in the same timeline or even universe.

Elora is from the original timeline of games developed by Insomniac, primarily appearing in the second entry, Ripto’s Rage. Cynder is from the “Legend” Timeline of games, a more serious minded reboot of the Spyro series that did away with a lot of the cartoony aspects of Spyro’s world in favor of a more mature epic fantasy story. These games were published by Activision after they acquired the rights to Spyro long after the original games and their timeline were shuttered. Elora does not exist within the Legend Games, as in she does not have a variant of herself in that game’s story. Cynder did not exist period within the original games as she was made specifically for the Legend series. And she still does not exist within that timeline post its revival by “Toys for Bob” through the Reignited Trilogy. There is no reason for a love triangle to exist between these three because there are two different Spyros, two different worlds, and neither of the female characters exists within the other.

This should be simple then, Elora has original-recipe Spyro (Voiced by Tom Kenny), Cynder has Legends Spyro, (Voiced by Elijah Wood) and that’s that. They don’t even need to SHARE Spyro! They have their own continuities within the canon each with their own variant of the purple dragon hero. And yet, fans have created a rivalry between the faun and black dragon regardless.

Why? Why do something so pointless? There’s no need to fight here, even if just for fun. These are two separate timelines within the same franchise. No one has to win or lose, right? Well, not according to fans it seems. As far as they’re concerned there is only one Spyro and only one of them can have him. So again, why? What’s the end goal? What’s the psychology behind this?

Well, I’ve given it more thought than someone should for a platforming game about a wisecracking dragon. So here are my thoughts on it. It revolves around a few points, story tone preferences, character dynamics, missed opportunities, the shifting tides of copyright ownership and simple good old fashioned nostalgia, combined with the hope of seeing one direction for the series reign supreme. So let’s get cracking on sorting this out then. Starting with who these characters even are.

Spyro: The Purple Burniating Hero

In the vein of mascot platforming heroes in gaming, Spyro is fairly atypical. He’s a too cool for school wisecracking little fireball, ready to jump in and fry any bad guy or bully in his way. Also sheep, he kills a lot of sheep. The commercials said so. His personality and character is pretty just what it says in the manual. Like Sonic or Crash Bandicoot, he is perfectly fine with just chilling and taking a load off. He only throws down when given no other choice or when others are being treated unfairly. He’s not so much a reluctant hero as he’s the chill hero. He accepts responsibility, but he’d rather be relaxing. He won’t shirk a fight, but he doesn’t actively seek them. And when the fight does come he’ll have attitude and cracks to spare. He is the prototypical 90s hero, he even skateboards because presenting these characters as cool was in now.

Of course, that’s Insomniac’s Spyro. Legends Spyro is indeed a reluctant hero, a chosen one sent on the hero’s journey through three games to defeat a great evil. Over time he comes to terms with who he is, what he is and grows in power as he does so. He finds allies, he conquers foes and challenges, he reaches a point of no return and a lowest point, the whole Campbell shebang. And the fact he’s voiced by Frodo only reinforces this characterization further. He’s been called to save the world, coming from humble origins as the adopted child of a dragonfly family to the true hero of the realm. Spyro therefore has to grow in confidence, overcome his fears and doubt, decide what kind of hero he wants to be and make harder choices. Legends is a more serious story and relies more on fighting mechanics than the original games ever did. So while he’s also easy to explain, he’s not the same character. If he didn’t look like Spyro, you probably wouldn’t recognize him. He’s that different.

Keep this in mind going forward. There are two Spyros, with different personalities, different journeys and different overarching goals. Their games aren’t even really in the same genre or have the same aesthetics. Legends is very clearly a fantasy setting whereas the Original Games did whatever they wanted to do as time went on. These two different Spyros therefore require entirely different love interests if they have any at all. Because, and I can’t keep stressing this enough, they aren’t the same Spyro and their stories are vastly different in tone and style in general.

With that in mind, let’s actually look at the two girls vying for two different Spyros.

Elora: The Doe Next Portal Door

She’s a faun, you dorks, a nature spirit in the shape of two-legged deer girl. Her original look had her possess a fox tail. The Reignited trilogy decided to go full deer in her new design. Elora is a kind, caring and cheerful person. She is also the de facto leader of Avalar, and she is no push over. She does not take the invasion of her realm by a pint-sized tyrant lying down. She is proactive in finding a hero and in assisting Spyro to defeat her enemy. She is not at all in distress. She is doing her best to lead her people through a period of upheaval and support the hero she summoned as best she can. She’s also a bit of a snarker who’s capable of telling her own wisecracks when needed. Overall, like the Insomniac Spyro, she is not a fairly complex character. She accomplishes her role, being an expository character to push the plot along.

Despite this though, she’s endearing. She’s a friendly face who is more than a little sympathetic to Spyro for interrupted his vacation. And she’s fairly chill with him overall. She might have been a bit underwhelmed by his size, but she quickly got over that and became a firm supporter. Not just because Spyro was their only option for a dragon, but because he proved himself.

Elora in this respect is a very easy going love interest. She isn’t annoying or pushy, she doesn’t chase after Spyro, but she does support and admire him. She can stand on her own two hooves and she is not personally in need of constant saving. A change from most female leads in games at this time, because you’d think we’d have to save her at some point in Ripto’s Rage. Not so, she’s, once again, never the Damsel and surprisingly a competent leader among her peers.

This is what made her a well-liked character, even if there wasn’t much to her. And her affection for Spyro, while never explicit, was evident. Without getting too deep into this for now, they looked cute together, even more so post-Reignited makeover. Regardless of anything else, that was probably the biggest appeal for Spyro being with Elora. It was cozy, safe and chill. Perfectly matching Spyro’s attitude and the game’s tone itself. Insominiac’s Spyro games aren’t exactly action-packed bareknuckle stories that keep you on the edge of your seat. They’re fun cartoony platformers that are easy to pick up and play. So a romance that is fairly easy going makes sense for this sort of game. It’s the same dynamic behind Mario and Peach, except it’s a dragon and a deer-person who never gets kidnapped. It works, but it’s not going to get more complex than it already is.

Cynder: The Tortured Ex-Bad Girl

If you want a story arc with some meat on its bones, Cynder is your gal. A Black Dragon stolen from her nest by villains and raised to be evil, Cynder became a terrible horrible countryside burning dragon of death. Until Spyro defeated her, she shrunk to pint-size, and she was left regret over all the years of being a brainwashed servant of evil. Cynder has a lot to atone for to prove she’s not the same dragon that caused so much pain and she is a constant element throughout the Legend Trilogy as a result of this.

Her relationship therefore grows with Spyro alongside her character. She starts as an outright villain, only to become redemption seeking loner and then a fellow playable hero trying to save the day. While not the most complicated of journeys, it is fairly compelling in the respect that it’s a solid character arc. One that she sorta shares with Spyro, as it turns out. While she was brainwashed into being evil, Spyro potentially could be turned to Evil just by his nature alone. So they both have to face temptation and doubt concerning whether or not they can resist turning to the dark side, although in different ways.

This commonality creates a sort of bond between the two and the chemistry between them grows considerably. Cynder’s personality takes a while to develop though as its always shifting as she grows. Her final characterization, a sassy, sarcastic and moody dragon doesn’t really come into full display until the third game. But the path to getting there is at least believable and earned. Once Cynder fully emerges as herself, it is a rewarding element to her arc. Combined with her fears of turning evil and hurting those she cares about, as well as her tragic backstory, it makes her a very easily sympathetic character that players quickly grew attached to.

And it didn’t hurt that, by the third game, you could play as her and she had some cool powers to use. Fairly unique in fact from Spyro’s regular attacks, which made for an interesting dynamic between their playstyles. Overall, Cynder was just a pretty cool character with a lot of depth to her.

Given the changes in tone for Legends it only made sense that any romantic subplot would be more involved and detailed. Cynder having to overcome her fears of upbringing alongside Spyro’s fears that being a purple dragon might mean he is innately evil are interesting twists on the genre conventions. Cynder, the one in need of redemption, ends up being Spyro’s support a lot, while also having to constantly prove to herself and others that she’s not the monster she used to be. While Spyro does believe in her, the problem he faces is believing in himself and the hero he’s prophesized to be versus the villain others claim he’ll become. In their end, theirs is a shared heroic journey, which explains why the final game basically has a co-op function for two players. They are shared protagonists and their end goal is to find peace with who they are and what they are before they can finally admit to their feelings for each other.

Which they do, unlike the original games, Cynder very explicitly states her love for Spyro by the end of the trilogy. No cute little fireworks date, no unspoken glances, no ambiguity, just outright declaring your love for someone as the world goes white around you. A serious story, with serious stakes requires a greater sense of closure to be satisfying. And no one was going to be satisfied if the game did not end with the obvious chemistry between these two dragons paying off.

Looking at both of these characters, it kinda makes sense while people would gravitate to Cynder mostly. Her’s is the romance with a better payoff in the end. And yet, Elora still has her fans who still support her with Spyro. And again, there should be no problem with that anyway since Cynder does not exist in any of the Insomniac Games and Elora has no counterpart in the Legends games. Fauns don’t even exist there. So both ships should just not bother with one another, right? They have no reason to actually fight. What’s up with the rivalry?

Again it comes down to a number of factors, but a major one is very easy to explain. It all has to do with one of the fundamental forces of our reality.

Time

In terms of gaming, there was a long stretch between a lot of these titles. By the time Legends came out, the glory days of Insomniac Spyro were long gone, usurped by a number of Vivendi Universal titles that were far from beloved classics. But we’ll get to them in another topic. The point is, when Legends came around to breath new life into the franchise there was little room for the old stuff in people’s mind. The old continuity was gone and the new canon was here. Best to just jump on board because you weren’t getting any other kind of Spyro game other than this. And when Cynder is the only game in town romance wise, people just go with it.

However, Legends ended. Cynder stuck around of course, through the Skylanders era, but Spyro itself was far from its roots by that point. When the Reignited Trilogy hit though, the Insomniac Timeline had a huge re-surge in popularity. Cynder wasn’t gone from the public consciousness', but she wasn’t IN the new games at all. Because they were total remasterings, if not complete remakes, of the original games themselves. So Elora’s new cute design took center stage alongside its more romantically framed cutscenes.

Once people remembered that Elora was a thing, liked Spyro and she was a pretty neat character in her own right, people gravitated back to her. However, even though Legends was over, that didn’t make people forget Cynder. For a long while people wondered if she’d be added to the game as a skin or something. No such luck. But the point was clear, fans didn’t want to see Cynder lost in the shuffle to the ravages of time. So they had to keep her relevant in the face of Elora, who had suffered this fate originally.

And the only way to do that, especially if she didn’t appear in the games herself, was shove her into the continuity fanon-style and enact the oldest romance trope in the book! The Love Triangle, in all it’s bitchy, argumentative, petty glory. All because time’s passage flip flopped which girl got the most screen time with the titular dragon hero. Which brings us to the next reason which, more or less, is similar to time in that it deals less with its passage and more with its memory.

Nostalgia

Spyro’s games have two distinct nostalgic eras, Insomniac and Legends. And there is a bit of argument over which folks prefer. For a lot of fans, Spyro’s REAL games were his Insomniac days, a belief reinforced by the Reignited Trilogy. Platforming, puzzle-solving, collect-o-thons with diverse gaming mechanics and sections. Ripto’s Rage in particular is considered the best game of that era, the one where Elora first premiered. Like the Faun, this style of game evokes a more innocent period in gaming, before micro-transactions and battlepasses and overpriced DLC. When you could sit down and have a simple enough adventure with a fun character and that was it. That’s the era of gaming that engenders a lot of good feelings in folks. Insomniacs Games were cozy, light-hearted, funny interactive/playable Saturday Morning Cartoons. While certainly not perfect, Spyro’s original adventures remind fans of a fantastic point in gaming history that has, more often than not, been forgotten and left by the wayside.

Is it any wonder that when Reignited brought the games back, fresh and mechanically updated, alongside Elora herself, that all those memories flooded back in? So in that respect, Elora is not just a part of that era in gaming, she herself is representative of it, alongside Spyro. On some subconscious level, they’re both part of a legacy that still gives fans, old and new, warm feelings.

Legends is a different sort of nostalgia, less about games and more about story-telling. The Legend of Spyro Trilogy hooked fans into it with an epic quest, high production values and earnest attempt at evolving the character and the franchise. It was less of a simple platformer and more of a full born action-adventure title. One with gravitas, pathos, legitimate stakes, all the good stuff that makes these sorts of titles compelling. People came back to Legends mainly for the story, even if the gameplay was rather atypical at times. Not to mention it was something fresh and original. After years of franchise stagnation, of games that failed to hit the high marks the first three managed, the Spyro franchise was in a rut. Many thought it was basically dead. Then the Legends Trilogy came along to breathe new life into it, mature it out of its roots and do something different.

That’s all very admirable, but there was one inevitably problem, good stories know when to end and The Legend of Spyro had a very definitive ending point after three games. Factoring in its final entry’s mixed reception from critics, the writing was always on the wall. No matter how much fans engaged with the story, the Trilogy was going to end eventually. It couldn’t stretch on forever, the big bad Malefor would be defeated and Spyro and Cynder would have no one left to fight or torment them about their fates.

The thing about that is, once something is over, it’s very easy to grow fonder of it in its absence. Even easier when its replacement is… well Skylanders which was less of a Spyro game and more of a marketing to sell toys. Lots of toys. Toys with designs that frankly weren’t very beloved. So yeah, Legends was very quick to get re-evaluated among any fans with doubts as a result of Skylanders being around. Which only further exposed them to a game series that was attempting to do right by Spyro even if its gameplay wasn’t as interesting or timeless as the originals.

Cynder in this way represents this bold attempt at more mature storytelling, with conflicted heroes, epic fantasy quests, highly sought after vocal talents, emotional pay off and true investment in a relationship with long-form chemistry. Cynder is a hold over from a period of the Spyro franchise that was trying to be more than another Collect-O-Thon Mascot game. So it makes sense fans see Cynder’s relationship with Spyro as the one with more meat on its bones. The romance that actually goes somewhere, made you care about it and wasn’t just odd to the side in ambiguity just to seemingly give Spyro a girlfriend. Cynder was more involved, deeper and complex, and so were the games she was from, at least storywise.

If I could explain this any simpler it would be by comparing the two timelines to another pair of franchises. For many people, Spyro’s original games are like Pokemon, a solid title that was light on story that was easy to pick up and play. So what if it wasn’t always the deepest most complicated plot, what mattered was that people could have fun with it. The Legend of Spyro Trilogy is Digimon, a game that’s not going to stand out much, but its story is awesome! So what if it was just a brawler for kids like Digimon was a Tamagotchi for boys? Its story drew you in and offered some truly great characters, just like Digimon’s Anime.

And knowing that each love interest more or less represents their respective timeline in this regard this brings up us to the next reason fans have for this rivalry.

Future Direction

Spyro 4 is not exactly announced, but it is anticipated, and there’s a clear idea of where fans think it should go. Most seem to believe it will be back to basics, just like Crash 4 turned out to be from the same developers. But it’s clear some people kinda want their Legends era back, or at least Cynder. While it’s not clear how Cynder would adapt to the less serious Original Timeline, it’s obvious a little of her being a more tragic hero figure would lend the game at least SOME of Legend’s flavor to the proceedings. The thing standing in the way though is Elora.

It’s very obvious that Toys for Bob has no intention of leaving their design for Elora by the wayside. Her appearance alongside Spyro in the Crash Team Rumble game is evidence enough of that. This isn’t like last time when Vivendi Universal and Activision took over and shoved Elora to the side (We’ll get to that in a bit), no the fan response to Elora’s new design and the reinvigoration of her ship with Spyro have clearly had an impact of sorts. If there is a new Spyro game, chances are she might end up being playable. But if that’s the case, why bring Cynder along?

She’s just another dragon. Sure, she might have different and new powers from Spyro, but won’t a lot of her gameplay just be the same? That might fly for switching between Coco and Crash in their game, but Spyro? Shouldn’t fans expect, given how you could play different characters for some levels in Year of the Dragon, a bit more variety? Sure, people complained about some of those characters’ mechanics, but no one seems to outright hate them enough to wish they were gone. Elora potentially has a different moveset entirely, magic powers, different skills Spyro couldn’t do, maybe they could adapt some of her moves from Crash Team Rumble in fact.. What can Cynder really offer but just being another dragon?

Well, likely something actually. Any of her powers from the third Legends game, Dawn of the Dragon, could easily be adapted into a new mechanic to encompass her role in the platforming and such. Shadows for one could make for some interesting platforming tricks if properly utilized creatively. Perhaps she could jump from shadow to shadow so she has to find a way to destroy lights? That’s just one example, but you could do a lot with a shadows-based gameplay mechanic.

The question is less about gameplay then and more about story. Does Cynder really fit in a world like the one based off the original games? Can she work in a Reignited storyline from that timeline? Reignited brought back the chill, fun vibes of the original games. Does Cynder really belong there or is she just too foreign? It’s an ultimate question of will Toys For Bob evolve Spyro as a franchise or just replay its greatest hits? Does Cynder get to come along for the ride or has Elora already taken her spot?

That’s where the real core of this rivalry may lie. The fact that Cynder may be facing canon extinction as a result. That at best, she’ll get a cameo in the next game and be cosigned to her last appearance being in Skylanders, a fate worse than death. So the love triangle is a way to keep her involved, keep her relevant, keep her from being forgotten. Even if it makes no sense since she already HAS a Spyro and the one in Reignited acts nothing like the one she’s in love with. But that’s the issue in the end, does the series move on without Cynder because Elora gets to comeback despite not being in nearly as many games as Cynder has?

Fans wanting to impose their vision for the direction of a Franchise is nothing new, but in this case it’s about Cynder’s future within the Spyro IP itself more than anything. Cynder should be involved, in their minds, because Spyro shouldn’t forget Legends. It shouldn’t forget he had a longstanding romantic partner over the course of three games! Whereas Elora comes back in a remaster and suddenly she’s the Soulmate? How is that fair? Worse, how is it fair the faun gets to play a role in these new potential adventures while the black dragon gets left out in th cold?

Honestly, Cynder fans DO have a legitimate concern about her character being forgotten and Elora fans should know this better than most. It happened to the faun herself after all. And it was far more sudden. She didn’t even really make it to the third game in her trilogy.

Deer Crossed Out

After her prominent role in Ripto’s Rage, Elora appears one more time… in the closing cutscenes for “Spyro: Year of the Dragon.” As nothing more than a glorified cameo where she hopes Spyro will visit her and then watches fireworks with him. Elora doesn’t even appear in the special bonus stage unlocked afterwards as a character. In fact, much of her position from the second game, an expository support agent for Spyro, is replaced by Bianca instead. A magical rabbit sorceress apprentice who starts off bad and then goes good because her boss is horrible and she falls for Hunter the Cheetah. A key criticism of “Year of the Dragon” was its overabundance of new characters, taking the focus off of Spyro too often when Insomniac probably could’ve just used the ones they already introduced.

It didn’t help that, for a lot of fans, Bianca just wasn’t interesting as either an opponent or ally, as her story, in contrast to Cynder, is rather cliche in how it unfolds. To clarify here, no one "hates" Bianca despite all this. In fact, fans quite like her relationship with Hunter. But she still basically replaces Elora in the game and spends a good chunk of it as the obvious reluctant villain who will switch sides eventually. Leaving no room for Elora to develop or appear beyond her cameo just so the hero's sidekick can get a girlfriend.

Worse was yet to come, as Bianca stuck around, but Elora did not. As Bianca’s affinity for magic made her ideal in Vivendi Universal’s eyes to play the role they needed for the next game. Enter the Dragonfly is regarded by many as the worst Spyro game. Terrible graphics, stale gameplay, unexciting story, it just did not go over well with fans. So sadly, Bianca is associated with a huge low point in the franchise. Which probably doesn't help her popularity score.

Elora also didn’t appear in the game following that, Hero’s Tail instead introduced a new love interest, Ember. A pink girly dragon who constantly chased after Spyro like a more annoying Amy Rose. With an even more childish voice and even less use to the story than other companions in past series, Ember did not gain many fans for herself either. She has never appeared since and many do not miss her.

But why not bring back Elora for either of these entries? Where did she go? Why the decision to kick her out of the franchise despite her introduction being in its best game? That’s hard to pinpoint, but there are some reasons.

Mainly, as stated before, Elora’s function just kept getting filled. Either gameplay wise or structurally. Bianca became the de facto quest exposition giver, whereas Hunter is already Spyro’s friend. Year of the Dragon had so many characters taking up time that any chance for her to be playable was overridden.

They also might have decided to keep romance out of a primarily boy-centric action game. Ember becoming an annoying girly dragon that tries to force herself onto Spyro was probably a means of appealing to that aspect. And rather than have Spyro reject Elora, who people like, it was easier to introduce a love interest that was made to fail instead.

The simplest answer could be that it was a major oversight and they couldn’t work her into the plot. Elora is essentially ruler of Avalar, at the very least the only person there with any sense. The Professor is smart, but he’s a bit of a scatterbrain and lacking focus. Hunter is… well he’s Hunter, the less said on that the less I’ll have to insult him. So Hunter can show up to be the screw-up sidekick but Elora can’t play Bianca’s role and Ember fills the anti-romance angle that they don’t want to tease anyway. It was easier to just not use her and claim she’s in Avalar if anyone even bothered to ask.

So why wasn’t she in Legends? Hunter was in Legends, Sparxs was in Legends! What prevented Elora from showing up at all? Perhaps it was to cut down on fantastical creatures elements. Most of the denizens of the Legends timeline are anthropomorphic animals. Elora probably didn’t fit the aesthetic and by the time Hunter shows up the Trilogy is wrapping up. He also takes over Elora’s traditional role, given that he’s more competent here. And the typical expository mentor role is inhabited by older dragons as well. Lastly Cynder plays the role of love interest and its likely the creative team did not want to do a love triangle period. Also probably why there’s no Ember here either, although that’s probably because no one liked her.

The most likely reason for all of it though is fairly simple, as we keep coming back to. It wasn’t just that Elora’s role was filled, but it’s because they couldn’t figure out a new one for her to take. She was actually going to be playable in a Handheld game, but that part of it ended up getting scrapped for time. It wasn’t until Crash Team Bash that the very prospect of Elora being a playable and fighting was ever explored again. Elora was essentially stuck in a box because no one wanted to expand her role. And the only other thing they probably could’ve done would’ve regressed her, turning her into a damsel in distress for Spyro to rescue. While the trope hadn’t been completely eradicated yet, the early 2000s and subsequent years saw the rapid decline of “Distressed Damsels” as a story element. For good and ill, this meant Elora didn’t get the chance to find a different role and all the ones she could fill as is were suddenly taken.

It’s honestly a shame, because it feels like it would’ve been really easy to make Elora more than just an NPC. There were opportunities, but no one really took them until recently. So Elora missed out on being a bigger part of this franchise, purely because she wasn’t offered the chance she probably deserved. Much like Cynder getting locked out of the story going forward feels like a looming prospect for her fans now. Elora’s revival as a mainstay in the franchise was cemented by Reignited and the response to her redesign. Will it be Cynder’s turn any time soon?

This is also all another unfortunate reason for the rivalry. Taking it all in, Elora barely had any time with Spyro. Two games, and one of those is only by technicality because she shows up when the main conflict is over. While there certainly was chemistry and relationship building, compared to Cynder it was minor. There was a whole story arc involving Cynder redeeming herself and conquering her fears and confessing to Spyro as the world potentially ended. But Elora gets to come back because her game got a remaster and suddenly her cozy romance trumps that deep whirlwind love story?

Cynder in that respect does not deserve to be forgotten anymore than Elora. And if that means shoving her into the new game, whenever it comes up, as a love triangle option, so be it! That’s the mindset that seems to be at work here in the end. A desire for both girls to get their due, with the dragon they chose, even if he’s a singular variant from a singular timeline.

Let’s then consider, how does this love triangle manifest within the fanon and why does it even have to be this way to begin with?

Black Dragon vs Forest Faun

Depictions of Spyro’s life with either of his love interests is both similar and different. Both rely heavily on being cute, loving and adoring one another. The key difference is in the tone. Cynder and Spyro have always had a mutual hurt/comfort vibe, both needing one another for the support they bring the other. Elora and Spyro? It’s a dating your best tomboy friend scenario, a clear mutual friendship of two buddies. The ship isn’t devoid of drama, but it isn’t fed off of it. It’s not the same romance if you switch the Spyros because they don’t need what the other love interest offers.

We won’t even bring Ember into it, since her existence as the annoying one-sided crush chasing girl doesn’t offer much in the way of interesting dynamics. So let’s just focus on what each pairing brings to the table on its own. Rest assured, we’ll spare you some of the more “graphic” elements of the fandom, analyzing that won’t get us anywhere.

Elora and Spyro as depicted go on a lot of cozy romantic engagements. Sometimes with Spyro more grown up so it doesn’t feel like we’re watching two kids get together. Spyro is often depicted like one of the older dragons from this timeline, standing on two feet with articles of clothing signifying his adult identity. Mostly utilizing a red scarf I find because it goes good with purple. A lot of depictions of Elora in these scenarios have her mostly the same, perhaps a different hair style or wearing a crown to better signify her position as leader of Avalar. But even here, regardless of content, these get togethers between the two are fairly atypical dating material. They’re dancing, looking up at the stars, snuggling beside a lake or in a field or valley of flowers. Picturesque romantic postcards I’d call it.

Some people would probably call this Vanilla. But that’s not fair as it denotes a level of averageness to the content. I’d call it what it is, functional. A healthy, aspiring relationship between two people who love each other, regardless of their extreme differences is not exactly a BAD thing. I imagine a lot of people would kill for that sort of love. That level of closeness. Elora and Spyro aren’t together because they NEED each other, they genuinely WANT to be together, because they enjoy each other. That’s why it resonates, it is… once again… comfortable! A warm blanket feeling, because Spyro is a chill hero and Elora is perfectly chill right back. They get each other.

Cynder and Spyro get each other too, but because they share their pain and trauma with one another. And instead of destroying each other, it made them stronger. Both have brought the other back from the brink, pulled them away from their darkness, more than once! Both never stopped believing in each other even when they didn’t believe in themselves. The most poignant moment of their entire relationship happens when Cynder has fallen to evil once more and is attacking Spyro. He does nothing to defend himself.

Cynder: Fight back! Fight Back! Why won’t you fight back!? Spyro: Because you’ve left me nothing to fight for.

This confession instantly brings Cynder back to her senses, standing by his side in the final fight to say “There’s always something.” That is a sort of deep love that you can’t walk back. It was inevitable that she’d say she loved him after that.

As a result, Spyro and Cynder’s content, mostly set post-game itself, is about both of them coming to terms with their trauma and learning to just be happy with one another. The war is over, the battle one, they can be together now, supporting the other whenever they feel weak or helpless. Their relationship is one of a deeper bond, forged through an epic quest. One they didn’t always share together, but inevitably walked along all the same. It just presents so much more juicy stuff to work with for a lot of people who like seeing hurt and broken people fix each other. Isn’t that what love is meant to do?

So their relationship has a lot of snuggling and touching as well, but it feels more intimate. Clearly they were friends, but through different circumstances. It’s the draw of their dynamic, as redeemers of one another, Spyro of Cynder’s past, Cynder of Spyro’s legacy as a purple dragon.

But if Cyder is to go forward this can’t exactly be the same. The dynamic is lost because Spyro’s Insomniac Timeline, continued in Reignited, is NOT a world that supports this high stakes epic romantic shared healing journey. The edges are sanded down, the trauma non-existent. Not great destiny, no forces conspiring to turn our heroes to evil. How does Cynder fit in when the core of her dynamic with Spyro is forced to be altered?

It’s possible for Cynder to be a bad girl that turns good and tries to prove she’s redeemable, but we’ve already had that story, Bianca. She was bad, she flipped back to good when she saw what she was doing was wrong, and she just became a more boring Elora that was dating Hunter. Cynder would be treading familiar ground. Her reintroduction could be interesting, but it would feel samey. And even if done properly, why would the more chillax, happier, less troubled by epic destiny and temptation to his darker nature, be interested in this version of Cynder romantically? She doesn’t seem his type.

There would have to be a lot of rejiggering to make it work and prevent her from ruining her personality. You don’t want Cynder to CHASE Spyro, that would make her like Ember. Cynder and Spyro fell in love through shared experience, not competition. It would probably be better off for everyone if Cynder had a different sort of dynamic with Spyro overall. Something along the lines of Princess Luna from from My Little Pony learning to understand fun again after her tragic turn to evil. Less about recovering from trauma, and more learning how to let go of her past and chill. The end result is probably never going to be like Legends, but it’s worth a try if only to allow her to stick around in future titles.

So in the end, even if Cynder did show up, maybe it would be better if they just made her less of a romantic rival and just another friend Spyro has to help teach how to loosen up. Anything more dire and it just doesn’t fit the world we see in the Reignited Trilogy. Honestly, if people WANT the dynamic they claim to crave from the Legends Trilogy, they should be asking Toys for Bob to remaster that next, rather than try to recreate the same circumstances in an environment that doesn’t support it.

Of course… there’s always MY way.

Why Don’t We All Just F##K Each Other?

Yes, I’m reiterating this solution again. Why not just let this be the default in our minds? If we absolutely must have only one Spyro, then its easier to just enable the Purple Dragon to BE like a dragon. Why can’t he just be ambiguously dating both girls with their shared consent? One could do that without making it too explicit. I admit, the solution is unorthodox, but dragons would likely not be held down by one perspective mate. They are generally seen as hoarding creatures, Spyro himself loves collecting Gems, probably has several giant piles of the stuff by now. Why not hoard other things too? Not as possessions so much as mutual partners? It would work! No one loses, everyone wins!

Well, more or less. We still face the ultimate problem that Cynder original dynamic doesn’t fit here in the Reignited Trilogy. We will never get the same thing that draws people to the Legends Trilogy. So even in this scenario, we don’t exactly get everything we want.

Ships Passing in the Night

The truth is one can’t really solve shipping, even when the obvious answer is presented. Elora exists in one universe, Cynder another. There are two Spyros, each can have one. Perhaps if the Legends Trilogy is remastered this point will become even more moot as both timelines will have their modern day comebacks. That is a longshot though. The rights to the Legends series are a tangled mess, even if Cynder might not be. Toys for Bob has the games that were made under the Insomniac Team. They can’t exactly just do the same thing they did for it with Legends. Especially when those games were a mixed bag critically and the demand for them is relatively niche.

But that won’t stop the rivalry, because it’s deeper than just who gets to be with Spyro, it’s how people will be able to experience future games with Spyro. It’s about the direction the series intends to take and the fear of some things we love being left behind. You can’t really fix that scenario in any sense, even with the perfect solution already presented.

I think I’ve made it obvious I mostly stand with the idea that both ships work in their own way. Both are valid choices narratively. Both present different opportunities. Cynder for deep enriching storylines. Elora for a chance to take opportunities her character was denied. I can’t fault either aspiration and frankly I love both of these characters a lot. And I don’t think I’m alone, because I’m not the only one who realizes this sort of thing. Sure, there are plenty of pieces of fan content with Cynder and Elora going at it for Spyro’s affections. But the drama is low key and more than a few people don’t actively seek to defame the other character.

It’s why I mostly call it a rivalry instead of a war. The Shippers ultimately know neither side can win because there’s nothing to really lose. Not as long as the two characters remain in opposite continuities. So that’s where it will remain ultimately. Even if another game comes out because the dynamic that made people enjoy Spyro and Cynder being together won’t be the same. And it wouldn’t be fair to cast Elora aside again just as she’s gotten a second chance.

Perhaps we can learn something from this. Maybe not just turn every love triangle into a big ol’ F--kpile, but at the very least that we can be satisfied in the reality that not everything is win-lose. Sometimes, there’s not even a thing to win. No one is losing anything, because those games remain, the memories remain, and what they meant to us can carry on. Not every rivalry has to dominate the other. Sometimes, they just need their space.

[mochalottie]

hiiii lottie, this is not a question and i honestly have no idea where this is going, but there's too much things i need to say soooo let's start with a massive, gigantic THANK YOU! the way you managed to write chapters averaging +10k words each EVERY SINGLE WEEK for TWENTY. NINE. FUCKING. WEEKS!!! this is monumental work you did on your free time and i'll never be grateful enough for all the efforts you put in it.

there is something about the way you write, idk if it's about your descriptions or the way you handle your characters and their voices, but i think i'm simply in love with your style! i had read all your avatar works before ftnadol, and i'm so glad i was able to read this one since the first chapter. the journey has been one of a kind, a wild ride unlike any other, and to tell you how deeply invested i became, just know i usually rarely take time to comment on fanfics. shame on me i know, but i'm too shy and never know what to say but idk what happened with this fic, i guess it broke something in me. it took me three chapters to leave the tiniest comment and then i was writing whole-ass essays???? i don't even know myself how that happened but goood, i think i needed to somehow process all the thoughts and feelings and emotions your writing gave me. and now it's so much easier to leave comments on other fics and it provides me so much joy and pleasure to know that writers know how much i enjoy and care for their works, so i guess i must thank you for that as well 💖

i think i told you already but your little story became a whole part of my routine, i had my monday night ritual reading the new chapter, screaming in my pillow and then again in your comments. i was looking forward to come back to this universe every week, thinking about those characters at random times throughout the week, wondering what would happen to them next and coming up with my own little theories. they were not always correct (malachy socorro, you will alway be remembered </3) but this kept reminding me the power held by fanfiction, stories, and art as a whole. i cannot fathom how some people manage to live their lives without being deeply involved in fandoms and engaging with cultural medias, and i'm so sorry they'll never get to experience the sorrows and joys it provides!

now that's been said, back to ftnadol! where to even begin? the whole concept of this alternative universe is a banger sort of idea! i mean, sorry, but eywa-blessed spider in a world where every single human was sent back to earth?!?!?! goooosh it feels just like yesterday that jake was finding baby spider in hell's gate, and look where we are now! so much has happened, those characters went to hell and back, and most essentially they've grown so so much!! baby spider and baby neteyam growing up as brothers since day one was not something i thought i needed, but you've crafted such a wonderful relationship, you wrote such a beautiful take on brotherhood and love and acceptance. i shed so many tears on this fic and just to think of their bond is making me emotional again.

every character was written so amazingly well: jake with all his humanity and stubborness, neytiri so fierce and caring, mo'at is an absolute icon, even the way you explored quaritch. his character is so complex, a much crueler version of him whose end was very satisfying. the whole expansion you made on na'vi culture and the connection between clans. tsireya, ao'nung, rotxo, even tonowari and ronal, they were not featured much but you managed to bring something fresh and new to them, fitting the twists of this story. i could say the same with tuk and kiri, i wish we'd had more of them but every time they were in a scene, they were an absolute delight and i can't wait to have more of them in the sequel. lo'ak, gosh i could say so many things about him, he is the character who touched me the most in atwow and every little additions you made to his character made me love him a little more. since spider is his big bro and not just his best friend, it changes so many things about his character. you gave us a much more mature version of him and i'm so proud of the journey he went through. now one of the biggest surprises i would say is neteyam! he didn't particularly stuck with me in canon, surely because his character is less present than the other kids and jc made a totally unnecessary decision that destroyed me. but fanon made me change my mind, and this fic played a big part in it. again it's so hard to speak of this neteyam without bringing up spider, and to see his character so impacted by the loss of his brother, with so much anger and frustration and sadness and hurt, god it was so devastating and heartbreaking. which leads us to the one and only spider!!!! our little guy, who's been through so much and yet remains that sweet kid who manages to see the goodness in people. he wormed his way in people's hearts, got a loving family and caring friends, and was ready to do everything in his power to protect them. he cares so much for his people and for his world, and life has been so hard on him but he proved everyone he deserved to be here and he's worthy!

honourary mention for the way you depicted the na'vi relationship with animals. payakan, the discovery of tsuraks and ilus, THE IKRANS. but most important of them all, my guy GUY <333 i miss him so much, and his bond with spider was the most wholesome thing. they were not able to communicate like others can and yet we saw how the trust between them grew through care to become this beautiful companionship. my life will not be complete until i see them reuniting and be one again

and last but no least, malachy! don't worry i didn't forget about him—how could i? this is just another proof of how good your writing is; you made me care so much about some original character whose foundations had everything to make me hate him. but you gave him an insane backstory, compassion and mercy, a brain, and this exceptional change of heart. i remember you wondering if we were interested in reading from his pov, and already then i wanted a more nuanced stance within the rda. you gave us everything i wanted and more with this character. he went through his own fulfilling journey and i know there's still so much more to learn about him, and he still have so much to learn from pandora, and i'm so glad he made it out alive thus far!

another massive thank you for you, lottie. i wish i could reach through my screen and give you a hug for everything you gave us with this story. your talent is boundless, you made these characters feel so real and i couldn't be happier that you decided to write this sequel because i don't want this story to end just yet. i'm not ready to say goodbye to them so i'm very excited to see where this next ride will take us <333333

Babes, bestie THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR AMAZING COMMENTS!

I'm stunned my work got you to come out of your commenting shell because your essays were literally one of the comments I looked forward to each chapter. And that you have a routine stop you're gonna make me sob-- TT_TT

I literally don't know what I can say that will say thank you for your words and love for this story so just please take my love and hugs and everything else babes.

And thank you for loving Malachy!! I'm glad he's been accepted by readers because it was a bit nerve wracking to create a character like his.

Thank you my love, one hundred times thank you

<333

[alarrytale]

hi marte, first of all i love your blog. i agree with most of your takes on larry situations and even their alleged break up rumours. i think they have been working on their career for quite some time and keeping the larry signalling lowkey. i know they are busy and stuff so i get it why the rumours are as such. honestly, i joined the fandom in 2021 and even since then I have seen much of their signalling as they used to do before that. i think I only ever experienced walls tattoo stunt and their long term love songs and sometimes the coded clothes. i don't buy into the blue greening. it's a reach. but lately I have been a louie larry (because I have more empathy for him, because his stunts are brutal and his career has been thoroughly sabotaged and discouraged. i stepped about of harrie train during holivia shit show and ever since then i have a bit taste in my mouth. my thoughts on harry can bit a bit extreme but I promise you it's all because I am just hurt and not a rad or something. my opinion is that, even when his stunts are bad and his image of a womaniser is not true, he at least get attention and career boost out of most of his stunts, except for olivia because it did do some damage but I'm sure if they intended to follow the original blue print, he must have gotten out less harmed. my point being, his closeting altho harsh, gets him somewhere while louis' gets him nowhere). at this point my main concern is just babygate and some boost to louis' career because when i look at him i feel so faint and hurt because he's been chained like that for so many years now. bbg is so disgusting i cannot even bring myself to speak my opinions on it. it just shows me a world that's so cruel and hateful. i still cannot believe how someone could agree to fake being pregnant and labelling a child to be someone else's and if brett is his father, i have respect for him running in minus because well, how could someone agree to put their own child through a mess like that? i haven't been in this fandom for a very long time as opposed to all you veterans but I'm already so tired of this. i saw changes in their pattern that began in august 2021 and that gave me a bit of hope that maybe they are going somewhere with bbg. i saw many takes that they are building a narrative and it will take some time to establish his good father image and i agree with it. if they wanted to go that route, it would be easier for him to end it. but it's been almost 3 years since then as well. and it's not going anywhere? how much are they building up? i think radio silence of louis' on this matter from 2017-2021 was actually far better than this. now i know some ppl say bbg is the only way he looks straight rn and we don't have any stunt girlfriend but in all honesty I would trade bbg+louis' career boost for 3 more olivia wilde if i had to. what I'm trying to say that I'm so fed up with their situation. i hope better days are ahead but i am running low on energy. (1/2)

Anon, i'm putting this under the cut, because you wrote a whole book!

it hurts to be called deluded and be the scrap goat of this fandom. louis' number are falling down day by day, he's stagnant, i don't see hope. i had better expectations with lt2 but it didn't turn out like that. is nobody paying attention to his career??? is nobody investing in him?? he has potential and i know if they could invest even 40% of what they do for harry in louis, he could do so much better than the rest of the boys. i know how he's got THAT end of the deal??? i wish they could end babygate because i really want to be free from this misery. i know i can always distance myself but my conscience is too cluttered with this to the point that I don't even enjoy their arts. i just want them to be free so i don't have this information lingering in my mind all the damn time. i had successfully distanced myself twice from them but then elounor breakup happened and i came back wanting for more. now hs4 will come and the whole 'its for my ex girlfriend' shit will happen again. i am young and sensitive and it hurts me that the world could be so cruel and i as a fan have to endure this pain on their behalf too. i know you're optimistic but im losing hope. everyday. i don't see any progress and sometimes i do think they have given up as well. who knows what's happening behind the scene? at this point I don't care if they are together or not. i just want fairness in this situation. they BOTH are in this relationship so why did louis get the bad end of the agreement? why didn't his career take off? (okay i agree he may not have the same range but im sure as hell sure that he can do a lot better than both liam and niall and even zayn if given a chance to be authentic). it makes me bitter in general. being their fan has made me a hater of the world in general and it's principles and unfairness. i just hope even if it's 0.00001% in me right now, that one day it will end. i know they don't have much time now to spark (louis 32 years old now, he must get the experience the joy of doing genuine numbers once because god i know he deserves the charting even if he says he doesn't want). am i thinking too much? i probably am but I cannot help myself. do you have hopes that it will end anytime soon? in another year? or it will take another ten? i honestly I'm losing so much respect for everyone in this situation, for human kind, for their sisters, for all the ladies who agree to do this shit. they don't deserve this. (2/2)

Hi, anon!

I know times are hard, but i can't know when they'll end bg, if things will change for Louis ever or when the industry will change. The only thing we can do is hope for better times. H and L, and us in fandon have lived with this current situation for years now. Little has changed for the better. Every good thing we get always has a backside and if things seem too good to be true, it always is. Therefore it's important to enjoy the good times when they happen and ignore the shit or meme the hell out of it. That's how you survive here longterm.

I know it's all very frustrating. There is very little we as fans can do to change the situation. We can only support them and acknowledge that they are in a difficult situation, and not hate them too much for what they do, but not praise them for everything either. I think things can change very rapidly, but we don’t know when change will come. I don't expect anything to change in the next two years at least. I'd love to be proven wrong.

[onigiri-dorkk]

Hey! I loved your content and the recent post

Somehow I can’t comment under the post so I decided to write here)

Hope I am not too inappropriate )

You know when I think of Mikasa’s lack of character development … I remember Sarah Connor. You know the Sarah Connor from the 1984 Terminator movie.

For me Sarah starts as a cliche girl in trouble who actually at first hates the man that saves her life again and and again. But then Sarah grows. She learns. She feels and starts to care. And we start caring about her. She develops so much that we absolutely believe that a man can fall in love with just her photo. A good man who wills to sacrifice himself not only for her for - you know - for the sake of humanity. A good man who she is loyal to for many years later and we don’t judge her because well he was the one. The kind of hero that actually sacrificed himself (not the fake leg and the rest of the world) but himself just because it was the right thing to do. The man not very likeable at first sight, the man of few words.

Oh if only poor Mikasa could meet someone like that . Oh, wait?

And by the way. In the Terminator 2 Sarah tells Kyle (when sees his ghost) this: “Stay with me”. Such an iconic love story.

Wait is there a line like that in AOT ?)))

Hello hello @foxandcakes!!! Welcome to the fandom and we're so glad you're here!! This isn't inappropriate at all -- sorry you couldn't respond to the post for some reason but thanks for reaching me here <3

Honestly, I have to rewatch The Terminator (it has been YEARS) but that sounds like what we wanted for Mikasa! If Yams was committed to writing a good, developed romance arc into the story he should have committed to giving individual Mikasa growth, no matter who she ended up w. We should see her motivations, self-conflict, inner thoughts change and transform for the better as a result of her love for Eren. That is the creme de la creme for any story -- you go through the journey of seeing this character transform, and that transformation is what makes plot points matter to a reader. The reason why you feel connected to Sarah Connor is likely because she was given a personal arc, showing who she is and her motivations, and it makes you invested in her growth...

It's a general agreement that Mikasa didn't fully get this, and it's why people's opinions on her are so polarized -- you either love her/how she's written while dismissing the failure of her character writing, or you loathe her because of the failure of her writing. I've been fascinated with our rivamika fandom because it seems like we tend to view her in that middle/balanced lens -- we're extremely disappointed with her writing, but adore her for the potential arc she could have had, and we enjoy that in our own writings and such.

Anyway, I guess that's a huge tangent LOL but basically, it would've been really fuckin cool to have this main female Character A who is unendingly in love with Character B, and that this love is all she knows, until she meets Character C (Levi!!! Or SOMEONE honestly!!) who shows her a powerful example of what real, genuine and healthy love is which would TOTALLY shift and transform her entire idea of what love even is; that the infatuated young love she experienced with Character B doesn't even compare to with Character C, and they grow because of that. There are a ton of fantastic stories with this type of arc! Instead, we get Character A pining over Character B to the very end, no matter how badly he treated her... It's just strange. It's cliche, it's honestly not a great example, it paints yet another image of a a man being able to treat a woman like crap for years but still has her devout love and loyalty anyway... I know the general fandom accepts and even enjoys this, so to each their own, but it's not my cup of tea and I wish we got more for Mikasa. And Levi.

adsjlfkjsalkfjdklajflksjfklasdjlfajslfjsklf

ANYWAY

I wouldn't have known that Terminator has the "Stay with me" line!!! EEEEEEE that's amazing! Thanks for the fun comparison! I'll have to rewatch soon :)

For now, we'll continue to enjoy our quality fandom content. <3 The dissatisfaction just makes our fics and head canons even better. Cheers!! And congrats on finding the gem ship that is Rivamika <3333

[shipsgaysfordays]

in light of:

i want to finally do the inconceivable and SHARE. A. DRAFT. that i’ve had since....

so here’s that:

idk if anyone else in the marauders fandom feels this way, but i actively fear for the day that anything harry potter or marauders is on the trending page while i am in this fandom

like it’s only going to be shitty news

like if there’s anything that’s created “officially” with the marauders, then fuck off no, i’m not consuming it and i may even just leave the fandom or see if we could collectively decide to change everyone’s names just to avoid the curse that is being connected to the wicked bitch of the west

like if anything was made canonically in the marauders fandom it would NOT BE GOOD, it would be soul crushingly heteronormative and cisgender and likely whitewashing all of the characters, it would be a story that likely worships snape and would go out of it’s way to ruin any characterization of the marauders. it would be hell to see, even in my peripheral vision

honest to god, not trying to gate keep, but i honestly hope this fandom never gets too big. like it makes me a bit uncomfortable to think of how some of the fancasted actors know and it’s a whole other can of worms, but still wondering and thinking about if jkr knows. wondering if she would do anything with this ip, it’s honestly terrifying. as a queer person in this fandom it’s terrifying

i already feel such a huge sense of judgment and discomfort for even associating myself with something vaguely harry potter themed and slightly connected to that transphobe antisemite, but to imagine how things would go if she actually picked up this story

i wish i wasn’t so invested in these stories, i wish i didn’t love these characters as much as i do. if i could i would cut ties with this fandom, and it has nothing to do with the members of the community that i’ve interacted with, all of you guys are lovely and amazing and if anything you guys are a big part of why i stay

i don’t know what to say, i’m just thinking off the top of my head. i can’t come up with a conclusion.

i don’t support jkr, i fear for the day that she may discover the possible goldmine of the marauders, i fear for the possible people in this fandom who would side with the devil and consume her content. 

all i can think of as a sort of conclusion is to state this: i love the marauders fandom because of it’s queerness. because of how i can feel a sense of gender euphoria in how masculine and feminine i can imagine sirius black as being (because i’m the one interpreting them, i have the power). because of the inherent metaphors for queerness and disability that come with an angsty depressed werewolf with severe anger issues. because of the many different perspectives and experiences that i have been able to observe through the fics in this fandom.

so, here i will be, manifesting some deal with the devil and/or some other demons that would take me up on it, so i never have to worry about jkr trying to take this fandom over with her own trash content. (yes i am wishing death on this woman, because of the extreme negative impact that she has had via her making being transgender a political issue, via ostracizing those of us in the community, via making it hard to simply live and be as she and her supporters continue attempting to criminalize us and begin a genocide against trans people.)

to anyone trans who is reading this, i love you, i support you, i’m sorry and i hope we can all get through this to dance on her grave and the graves of all those who have wronged us.

[acacia-may]

For that new ask game, can I ask 2, 4, 7, 14, 18, 19 and 27 for Nozel? Sorry if it's too many numbers.

Hi Anon! No worries at all. I'm happy to answer any and all questions about Nozel. Thank you so much for playing my game and for the ask! 🥰

Questions from this Character Ask Game

Answers & Headcanons Below the Cut [because this post got a bit lengthy]

(Warnings: Contains Spoilers for and through the Spade Arc)

2. When I think I truly started to like them (or dislike them, if you've sent me a character I don't like)

I think my perception of Nozel really began to change in the Elf Arc during the battle at Silva Castle. We learned so much about Nozel's deeper motivations and saw that he did actually care for Noelle and wanted to protect her (he just went about it in the absolute worst way possible), and he does admit he was wrong about Noelle and her abilities and actually apologizes to her there which helped paint him in a more sympathetic light to me.

All that said, I think it was really in the Spade Arc when we learn even more about why Nozel acted the way he did--that on a certain level he was really almost forced into this more antagonistic role because he literally couldn't explain that Noelle wasn't responsible for Acier's death due to the curse. Suddenly, in my mind, I have this incredibly vivid and heartbreaking mental of Young Nozel a literal child forced to carry the weight of the world alone. Not only has he lost his mother but he has also been quite literally cursed with such a heavy burden. The pain and the loneliness of that has to be unbearable for even an adult, but Nozel was only a teenager. And I think when looking at the situation from that kind of perspective, it's easy to have a lot more sympathy for him. Yes, he didn't handle the situation as well as he could have especially with Noelle, but I just started thinking to myself: would I have been able to do much better under those circumstances at only 14 years old? Would anyone, honestly? And that isn't to excuse away what he did, especially when he got older, but it does make him more sympathetic to me and I feel genuinely bad for how much he suffered and wish him good things and a reconciliation with his sister going forward.

4. How many people I ship them with

This is a very difficult question for me to answer, honestly, because I am much more invested in Nozel rebuilding his relationship with his sister, Noelle, than in any potential romantic relationship he could have. My personal view of shipping in general is as more of an actively wishing or wanting certain characters to get together with other characters, and in this particular case I'm not sure I am actively wishing for Nozel to end up with anyone in particular. There are certainly a handful of ships I like or would be okay with for him (Nozel x Dorothy and Nozel x Vanessa come to mind off the top of my head, and I also like several Nozel x OC ships created by some talented writers and artists in the fandom). Ultimately, however, I think in my mind, Nozel just has so much internal turmoil and a lot of things he personally needs to work through before I can see him really getting into a relationship with anyone (and, honestly, on some level, before I can see him even wanting to get into a relationship--but that's just my personal interpretation) so I really think I am actively wishing for him to take time to heal and to work on himself more than I am actively wishing for him to find love, if that makes sense?

If I had to put a number on it...um...I guess, since I'm not really set on any particular ship for Nozel, I'd honestly say the possibilities are kind of endless. I'd really like to see him marry for love someday, but my more practical side thinks he has probably already been betrothed to somebody and he's not really the type who'd break that kind of commitment even if he wanted to. But who knows?

7. A quote of them that you remember

I remember just my jaw dropping in this moment. (I watched the anime first, but it was also an important moment in the manga). It was such a big thing for Noelle to have her brother finally show he believed in her and suggest they fight together side-by-side. Another that comes to mind is his entire little speech at the end of the battle where he reveals to Noelle his reasons for treating her coldly were that he was trying to deter her from joining the Magic Knights and he admits that he was wrong about her and that he's sorry. It was the first step in repairing their broken sibling relationship, and though they still have a lot of work to do to see Nozel actually admit he was in the wrong and apologize for that was a big step in the right direction.

14. Best storyline they had

As of writing this, Nozel's arc in Spade and his battle versus Megicula, but we'll see if this changes with whatever Tabata has in store for him in the final arc.

18. How do you think they were as a kid? (Like, were they shy, noisy, wild, etc)

Nozel was always an old soul--wise beyond his years, quiet, serious, and responsible. He worked hard and studied conscientiously, and he very rarely got into trouble. If anything was a bit of a stick in the mud when it came to more imaginative, raucous, and childish games, and I imagine Acier often had to encourage him to stop working so hard and have fun every once and a while so he'd remember to actually be a kid while he was still young.

19. The most random ship you've seen people have with them

To start with a disclaimer: I actually like this ship, but I think I'd have to admit that Nozel x Vanessa is pretty random to me seeing as they haven't ever really interacted in the canon and I honestly would have never thought of it as a pairing if I hadn't seen it in the fandom. I think imagining the potential of it and what it could be like is part of the fun of that particular ship, but I'd classify it as random even if I feel positively about it.

27. If they could meet a character from another show/movie/etc, who would be the most fun for them to meet?

So for a very silly answer, I'm going to say Rui from Demon Slayer just because my sister and I have this running inside joke that he's basically a Nozessa love child since he has this thick, angular silvery-white hair like Nozel and a thread-based magical ability (blood demon art) similar to Vanessa's magic (Rui also has an attack called "Murderous Eye Basket" that looks very similar to Nozel's "Silver Star of Execution"). He is a villain though, so I guess you'd have to ignore that... 😅😂 Still I could see Rui wanting to adopt Nozel into his "Spider Family" and Nozel just having no patience for these kinds of shenanigans which could be a fun mashup. (I also wouldn't mind watching these two battle too, so either way, I think it might be an interesting meeting).