#Or did you just decide that it was bad because you find fandoms cringe bc it's cool to think that now?

[spyroz]

Ironically, my tumblr dashboard's tendency to go fully and exclusively hater mode about fandom-related written works (claiming they're depthless and artless or universally/sweepingly stupid) is just as anti-intellectual as people who blindly consume media without thinking about what it means

If you Only focus on negative aspects of critique of this kind of fan work, and don't recognize the deeper symbolism or introspective qualities of the work and what it might be trying to say about the world, or even why the author might find meaning in things you find strange or off-putting, then you've effectively done the same thing as the guy who swears marvel movies are the best media of all time

[kerryweaverlesbian]

sometimes i think about the gadreel telling dean to kick cas out plotline and am filled with more rage than you can imagine. its NOT even that like. dean was mean to cas or anything im sure he gave cas money or something bc i cant see a world where he kicked cas out with nothing and he was pretty forthright about caring about cas during that sequence where cas wasn't allowed in the bunker.

but its SOOOO obvious the only reason cas didn't get to stay in the bunker was because of the hand of the author. they didnt wanna change the status quo of the show. im not even talking about destiel im talking about the fact that castiel being human, and potentially learning to enjoy being human with his best friends, would destroy the rest of the season's planned plotline for him. he would've just gone completely human and not wanted to be an angel anymore. this would've also meant he could've went on more hunts much earlier than he did in the actual show, and his dynamic with both brothers could've developed during the downtime between him being safe in the bunker and the rest of the season's plotline moving (bc lbr the season plotline doesn't pick up again until holy terror, and this isn't a bad thing its just very obvious)

(although i still stand by that if you wanted to actually successfully pull off the rest of the season you could just have him be kidnapped later, hear that ezekiel is dead, and then have him make the call to become an angel again in order to be able to escape and help dean. like the phonecall where dean is like "and you're okay with that?" re: cas being an angel again would've hit a lot harder bc dean would've been able to pick up on his enjoyment of some aspects of being human)

also the doylist reasoning behind not letting him spend time with cas is also to isolate dean so he starts working with crowley when the gadreel reveal happens.

also lets be fucking real the sexual tension between human cas and dean would've been off the charts they were like we cant fucking write that the fucking (heller comrade) traitors on our writing team WILL make it gay we CANT do that.

sorry for this essay im just. its one of the biggest wastes of potential in the show.

So true bestie. The hiatus between season 8-9 was my first in the fandom and we were all CERTAIN that Destiel was going to happen from how gay the last couple of episode were (THE CRYPT SCENE. THE ARROW IN THE BAR.) And then. Then. I mean like people were convinced every season hiatus but there was something in the air for that one. And that thing was destiel. So they stopped letting them hang out.

On the bright side, I enjoy how horrible the experience is for Dean having to lie to both Sam and Cas because I'm a sicko. And it's very funny. He was SO close to having everything he wants (Sam alive and well. Hell closed. Cas with them permanently.) And he can't have that because of one, shall we say, social faux pas. And every day someone is asking him with genuine kindness and love "but Dean, isn't happiness directly in your grasp? Don't you want to grasp it?" And he has to go. Through gritted teeth. "No. I like it like this. This is happiness for me. It's my choice."

It's cringe comedy, it's a comedy of errors, it's lies on lies on lies. It's funny! Especially since Sam just sort of decides to find Cas incredibly charming this season out of nowhere. Just to twist the knife that Dean has to make the problem. So, it might help to reframe it that way haha.

And also, 9.06 is GREAT FUN for me in particular. Ohhh we want to be together so bad but even if we say it nothing will change so we won't and we're both bitter about it but damn do I love you. Catnip for me. It has its problems but the NIP.

I do think that a more charitable part of the Doyalist explanation is a problem they run into very noticeably in s10, 11 and 12: they only have enough money designated for a certain number of guest star appearances. That's why he's "watching The Wire" so often lol. This is an assumption of mine but like. That's gotta be the reason. So they wanted something for Cas to be out there Doing when he's offscreen for long periods (and they were just like 'fuck it' in later seasons)

This is a tangent but I think it's so interesting how obvious in Supernatural it is that practical constraints affect the material plot. All monsters are guys in suits. Season 3 is cut short from the writers strike so Dean goes to Hell. Cas and Mary can't be in as many episodes that they obviously should be in so their character flaws are that they're flakey and often disappear. They couldn't get JDM for a season 3 episode of Dean's nightmare so they had Dean's biggest fear in fact be succumbing to his own self-hatered.

Anyway. In conclusion, season 9 sucks. I agree.

[inchidentally]

some of my trickier asks or things I want to keep out of the tags

[link was a twitter post saying they wanted to get rid of Oscar to have car|ando back together at McLaren]

AFASFGHLASHFL babe even as a car|ando person I have to let you vent that out because that is possibly the most cringe thing I have seen since maybe 2016. I am fully expecting DTS to do another segment on car|ando and frame it so that McLaren and Lando want Oscar to leave because he doesn't touch Lando enough on camera or use nonstop gay innuendo. forget teammates valuing respect for each other and piling up McLaren's hardware cabinet, why oh why won't Oscar tackle Lando to the ground or talk about dicks and balls with him for fancams 😭

sorry anon I'm just cutting off that last part bc I don't want to attract any discourse about it to my blog <3 but yeah I honestly find it baffling that car|ando ended up being the larry ship for F1 fandom when Carlos of his own volition chose to leave after one season?? if they were real life a couple and wanting sex all the time surely staying on the same team would make sense and that he wouldn't go to Ferrari and immediately start acting more like a besotted, handsy husband with Charles than he ever did with Lando yet no one thinks they're secretly married. why didn't he do like Daniel and stick it out with McLaren even during bad times to stay with Lando if real life couple

and straight up they're not only disregarding everything that Oscar has brought to McLaren and promises for the future ! they're deciding that Pato is disposable too. I say this as a semi fake fan but even I wouldn't base my predictions about contract negotiations on rpf.

<3 thankfully it isn't all of us car|ando people who go too far but it feels like the other side are getting louder and louder

honestly I can boil my two main issues with the car|andoisreal brigade to three points:

misogyny and publicly targeted hate toward their real life girlfriends who they actually do have sex with/have romantic feelings for and who they openly choose to be around at the exclusion of their sports bromance friend

this particular brand of car|ando revolving entirely around Lando being conveniently stripped of a personality apart from giggling so he can be handy insert for women desperate to have Carlos for themselves

bringing 1D shipping into yet another new fandom and basically rinse and repeat with Carlos and Lando's names inserted in the [namexname] box

I know that a lot of us car|ando folks are nothing to do w this garbage and the good thing is that usually these people take themselves out either by pissing off the men involved in the ship or getting bored waiting for their fake ship to "become canon" finding a new rpf ship to latch onto.

oh and I do know that the person who made the office meme about Lando saying the podium thing intended it solely as a joke but it found the Other Side real fast and they genuinely put it in their dossiers of car|ando vs |andoscar. which I don't get for many reasons but also if they think Carlos and Lando are in a secret gay relationship and Lando doesn't even like Oscar then why the need to keep going seeee seeeeee he loves Carlos not Oscarrrrr aslfhsalfhslahf jesus christ why am I even trying to rationalize this

thing is I don't want any more of this on my blog or in our part of fandom so I'm going to limit how much of any asks I'll answer about it. I don't at all mind if people need to vent but jsyk I might not always post it publicly.

I'd recommend blocking and not engaging with it to everyone else too. I might curb how much car|ando is on my blog for a while just because it's so embarrassing to be associated with the grown ass women stalking Rebecca/Carlos content and flooding it with car|ando comments.

[esta-elavaris]

Hello!!

First up, just want to say I love your blog and your stories even though I am a lousy commentor.(I apologise for that)

I really resonate with that ask you answered about children. I feel exactly the same way...sworn off relationships and children. I value my freedom too much to sacrifice it. Children and relationships maybe okay but free time, writing, reading and fandoms are WAYYY better. I tend to keep these views to myself because I made the mistake of opening up and telling this to some of my family and friends only to be ridiculed. They even had the audacity to place bets on me which was quite annoying. Long story short none of them believe me and does not get the fact that I do not need to be in a relationship or have children to be happy. I am quite content with my freedom, studies, reading, writing, fandoms and most importantly my peace of mind. Glad to know there are people like me who feel the same way❤❤

Oh no need to apologise at all, I am also a crap commenter when it comes to stuff I read a lot of the time, so I get it! Thank you! 💜💜

But yeah, honestly it's so disappointing that people are crap about it. Most of my family don't know that I've actively decided not to do either, and I don't see any reason to tell them tbh. I don't need the ear-beating. I've only just started being so open about it online and amongst friend circles because it feels important to voice and validate at this point. It does make me laugh because my mother was a terrible mother and told me at fifteen that I needed to have children one day, because she had to be a grandmother 💀 like she didn't even make an effort with the kids she had herself, what a dumbass.

Our planet is over-populated as it is, and so many kids are stuck with terrible parents who have no interest in actually parenting or being there for their child because they either had kids because it's "what people do", or because they were too concerned with what they thought a child could give them rather than vice versa, or even because they were worried about maybe potentially regretting it one day. One look at the "regretful parents" subreddit shows you the cost of that thinking. I think it's funny that the people who actively choose not to have kids bc they don't think they'd be a good parent are actively making a better parenting decision than the ones who have them and then mistreat them just because "it's what people do!!!1"

With relationships and kids for me there's just too much cost and absolutely not enough reward. I'd much rather write about it than live it ahah. The judgement does absolutely suck, though, like I think people who view these things as an essential part of life really can't grasp that some people just don't, and think we're lying about being happy as is out of denial or and inability to find "the one" or something because they think how they feel when they're single etc. is how everybody feels when they're single. Or maybe it even makes them feel some kind of way because they depend on it so much and they don't like to see others not needing it, and being fine with doing shit alone or "just" with friends. Platonic love is just as important, and (for me) just as fulfilling.

I do think some child-free people give the whole thing a bad name - I cringe when I see people online absolutely foaming at the mouth when a child dares to exist in public, but it doesn't justify the way some people try to make the reproductive choices of others their business. It's also disappointing that it's a decision that's often more respected when men make it than women. Nine times out of ten I see a parent dealing with a meltdown etc. and I just think "I wouldn't do that on a daily basis for all of the money in the world", and that's not even getting into how we gloss over exactly how traumatic pregnancy and birth is on a physical level. Absolutely no part of it is tempting to me. The good moments wouldn't outweigh the sacrifice for me.

I did not mean to write you a whole ass essay here, I'm sorry haha, it's just nice to find people who get it and to have a chance to talk about it! Also didn't know whether to answer this privately or not - so I hope you don't mind, but if you do just lmk and I'll delete 💜

[plan-d-to-i]

Hey plan!

so i'm seeing again tweets about how wwx is bad at naming things 👁👄👁 so i'm gonna ask who really named his sword "suibian" because as far as i remember it was jfm who chose that name right? like he named it "suibian" because wwx said "whatever" as in wwx assuming jfm would decide the sword's name himself since wwx can't find a good name. am i remembering it correctly? 😅 please do correct me if i'm wrong though. i'm just tired of seeing posts that wwx is bad at naming like he didn't just name his flute chenqing, his inventions stygian tiger seal, spirit-attraction flag & compass of evil, and jin ling rulan to be called bad at naming 🤦‍♀️

Why is he bad at naming things? Suibian "whatever" is a cute name. The sword obviously fucking vibed with it and with Wei Wuxian bc it went and pulled a one in a million and sealed itself when he died. 95% of the people in this fandom just steal the names MXTX came up w for her characters and slap them on their cringe self inserts. It's hardly like they're coming up w cutting edge names for shit...🌝.

Seeing the sword, Wei WuXian first hesitated. He quickly replied, “Thank you.”

Holding the hilt, he slowly pulled it out. A pair of eyes were reflected against the snow-white blade. Wei WuXian stared at the pair of eyes for a while before he put Suibian back into its sheath again, “It really did seal itself?”

Lan WangJi grabbed the hilt of Suibian as well. He pulled out, but it didn’t move at all. Wei WuXian sighed. He patted the body of the sword, I knew that Jin GuangYao didn’t dare make things up without any basis… So it really did seal itself. I just happened to have run into something amazing that only happens once in ten thousand years.

LWJ thinks it's cute too bc ultimately he echoes that conversation when WWX comes back to life:

Quietly, he said, “Hanguang Jun, help me ask what this place is, what it’s used for, and who built it.”

Lan Wangji was a master of the qin language. He did not require any time to think before his steady and reliable hand plucked a couple of pure, clear notes. After a moment, his guqin’s strings sounded a couple more times on their own. Wei Wuxian asked hurriedly, “What did it say?”

“I do not know,” Lan Wangji said.

“Huh?”

Nonchalantly, Lan Wangji repeated, “It said, ‘I do not know.’”

“…” Wei Wuxian looked at him, suddenly remembering how, many years ago, they had had a similar conversation about “Suibian.” He rubbed his nose, speechless. Lan Zhan’s grown up too much. He’s even learned how to make me choke. (22)

As for the name of the sword it's discussed in Chapter 16:

“You don’t need to say it, I know,” Wei Wuxian said solicitously. “You want to ask me why I named it this way. Everyone asks me whether there’s some special hidden meaning behind it. But actually, there isn’t any. It’s just that when Uncle Jiang bestowed the sword on me and asked me what I was going to call it, I couldn’t find a name I was happy with, even though I came up with more than twenty of them. I thought I could just let Uncle Jiang name it for me, so I told him ‘whatever!’ Who knew those two characters would really be on it when it came out of the furnace? Uncle Jiang said, ‘Given how things are, why not just call it Suibian?’ And actually, it’s a pretty good name, right?”

Finally, Lan Wangji managed to squeeze a word out from between his teeth. “…Ridiculous!”

Wei Wuxian lifted his sword onto his shoulder and laughed. “You’re really far too boring. The name’s hilarious. It’s great for messing with little fusspots like you. Works every time!”

JFM obviously ultimately made the call. I'd say it was at most a cute collaborative effort. WWX saying "whatever" 🤝 JFM appreciating a good dad-joke opportunity, and getting WWX's free spirited nature (NOTE NOT! saying JFM is WWX's dad, just that this is dad joke energy. WWX is not adopted- gotta clarify jokes for this fandom). Damn ppl will really try to shit on WWX for anything eh?

[redxblueihateloveyou]

Am I the only one who doesn’t get why some (tw) are shitting on Haru and Rin separately just for the fact that they reciprocate each others feelings? Because it’s not the feelings they wanted them to reciprocate? Just curious because I'm new and recently entered the fandom. And since when miscommunication in between means that they don't deserve to be happy at the end? Because you're an idiot when it comes to love, doesn't mean you're a bad person. I came from chinese bl and it's weird to me.

Hehe welcome to the madness, perfect time to join! Yeah, tbh that's the thing in the fandom that always bugged me the most. The fact that some act like if you don't reciprocate someone's feelings, it makes you a bad person. I always found it incredibly cringy when ppl in real life for example make ppl feel guilty for not feeling the same way and make you feel like shit bc of it. I don't get why you have to apologize for that or feel bad, if you never ever gave him any hope or anything in the first place.

Nowdays it's thankfully a rare sight already in this fandom, bc most already grown and see perfectly what's truly healthy and unhealthy, it's just tbh only the same 3 accounts ppl keep sending me that are still on that, who also think that Haru is literally possessed in the last movie so I don't see the point of like arguing with ppl like this. It's just they're always getting extremely angry when Haru wants Rin as if it's his fault that he feels this way and always go about it like he is inconsiderate of Makoto's feelings. Implying that they're mad that he doesn't feel that way about Makoto, while Makoto does. I'm same as @tododeku-or-bust for example said here (idk what fandom brought this on, but just in general) also do not get what's appealing about this kind of relationships in the first place.

If they shipped it in terms of like it's mutual I'd get it, but they go on about how Rin or Haru are bad friends bc they're not in love with their best friends... like ?????? I didn't know you owe it to your friends to have romantic feelings for them.

In real life if you found out that your bestie feels that way for you while you don't reciprocate, it's a burden, that'll make you feel uncomfortable and at times guilty when you shouldn't technically feel that way. So putting on someone a burden of "I was pining for you all along", when you know they don't feel the same is giving me this feeling of cringe. So I personally do not get what's enjoyable at seeing it like that in Free. But to each their own kink lmao.

It's like... is Haru at fault for the fact that he was Ikuya's first love too? I do not get it really. Like he doesn't have to take responsibility for everyone who falls for him and he doesn't owe anyone to reciprocate their feelings. Even to Rin. Like if he didn't feel the same way for Rin, it wouldn't be his fault either. But since he does feel the same way for him, it's like... good, great, happy for them.

Like once again if someone believes that Makoto and Sousuke are unrequitedly in love with Rin and Haru, that's not rinharu fault. Haru literally never ever lead Makoto on EVER. He never ever did anything that would make Makoto believe that they're more than friends. He was always honest about everything. Like when Makoto thought that he went out to see him, but Haru just wanted to see the sunrise, he told him just that. He never encoraged anything, he refused to live with him and never wanted. I do not get why it's supposed to be his fault that he doesn't like his friend in that way. If Makoto has some unrequited feelings for him and decided to hang up on this, it's his own life choice in my opinion.

It's like saying that Onodera and Takano for example don't deserve to be together just because they unintentionally hurt each other and got separated for 10 years bc of misunderstanding. This argument is like typical Yokozawa life position aka "but I was there when he left you heartbroken for several years, that means you MUST pick me". As I've said before, that's just not how it fucking works. And just bc they couldn't explain things to each other normally, doesn't mean that they don't deserve be happy now. Being idiots is not a crime.

Or if you came from chinese bl, lets go "Guardian" for example. Zhu Hong also was on about how "why you love Shen Wei, not me, I always did everything for you and I was always there, I even wore heels bc you once said you liked those etc". Like he never asked her to do this, he never gave her any hope, he was beyond rude and open about the fact that he's not interested, he never did anything to make her think she had a chance since the beginning. Just bc she decided to dedicate her life to false hope that maybe one day something might change is not his fault. It was her choice. Why Yunlan should feel like shit bc of that I do not get personally.

I'm just buffled bc like Haru for example is the most caring about other ppl's pain person, but they call him selfish and rude bc of the way he is with Makoto at times, not even realising that it IS in fact what means being kind sometimes.. to not give someone a chance when you know you don't feel it. I was always saying this like since forever, being kind doesn't mean for example giving everyone second chances, loving everyone, wanting to be friends with anyone etc. In some situations it's not being kind, it's being stupid or even not being a good person. Once again... offering someone friendship after he openly dissed your friend and you see that he's not in any position to talk back is not kind. Or if someone cheats on you constantly, but you always forgive them it's also not you being kind. It's you being stupid. Sometimes you have to be harsh. It's for the greater good.

And like I saw several times stuff like someone under scenes where Rin has his eyes for Haru only, commenting like "oh great, look at Rin being inconsiderate of Sousuke's feelings again. Can't believe you guys find this romantic." I mean, if in their opinion Sousuke is in pain from being Rin's friend, he can end it, it's his choice. It's not Rin's fault that he thinks of him as just his friend. So thinking that Rin is an asshole bc each time he simply hangs out with Sousuke he's a selfish bitch is fucking insane. I'd feel extremely bad if my best friend was seeing it this way for example. It's like hella ugly.

This annoys me also bc of the fact that Rin, the person who at the age of 12 single-handedly saved his family from falling apart after his father's death, who's an amazing friend to Sousuke and did everything to make his happy after he found out about his trauma and always checks on him first and cries about his shoulder, who in the late evenings taught Rei to swim, when everyone else gave up already xD, who was looking after Nitori during his training, who pretends to walk the same road, just because he's scared to let Gou return alone in the evenings, the most amazing son and brother, is suddenly an asshole just because Haru is in love with him, but not with Makoto. I mean, thats just... huh? Like I dont mind you ship what you want to ship, it's like to each their own crayons for real. But like dissing them and call them selfish just bc they only see their friends as friends and don't want anything more is weird to me.

As for the fact that bc of the misunderstanding they don't deserve to be happy, that's just idiotic. I mean, lets punish Wei Wuxian and Lan Zhan too just bc Lan Zhan couldn't voice his real feelings back then and bc WWX misunderstood him. Lets ship WWX with Wen Ning instead. Nezumi is cancelled, he doesn't deserve to be with Shion. He left him. Takano should stay with Yokozawa, Onodera is trash. Wu Xie is trash for wanting to be with Zhang Qiling too. It doesn't matter why he leaves, it only matters that he always does. I can't believe he doesn't see that Pangzi is there with him all along xD. What an ungrateful trash of a human being I can't even.

And anyways btw both Rin and Haru are not ideal human beings in any way (otherwise I wouldn't love them this much tbh xD). But their flaws are definitely not what for example mh shippers usually blame them for. You can argue about their other imperfections easily. Like being stupidly stubborn for example. I won't point fingers here, Haru lolz. Or literally anything else.

My point is you can find what to trash them for logically, if you wanna. Do it smartly tho. Otherwise you make your ship look bad.

And I once again say what wise person said about his relationships and about the fact that not being able with someone he loves hurt him and 'why is he doing this to himself' he answered: "it's not on him. my happiness and my pain is for me to handle". Everyone decides for themselves. This is why for example Haru was so broken about voicing this to Rin and didn't have any intentions to tell him that in the first place. Bc it's not right, if you're not sure that it's requited. Technically he has no right to blame Rin for making him fall in love with him and then leaving in the first place. It's not Rin's fault really, that he made him feel what he feels for him, it's ultimately Haru's problem. That's why he feels has no right to blame him in the first place. I mean, he doesn't know that Rin feels the same, that means saying to him "you break my heart each time you leave" and making him feel bad about it is technically wrong. That's why Haru to himself said "no, please, don't say such things to him". Everyone for himself decides who deserves your 5, 7, 800 or 10000 years of your pain. It's your decision. It's your life. If Haru feels like Rin is worth it, then you have no say in that matter really. The only reason we call Rin an idiot or Haru an idiot is because we know they feel the same, so we can. But blame someone else for not feeling what you're feeling is not right.

So like even if you feel like Makoto and Sousuke have feelings for their friends, blaming Haru and Rin for having feelings for each other and not for them is beyond weird. And there's nothing wrong with putting someone you love first, every bro/sis gets it. You can say bros before hoes all you want, but like Lan Zhan might just drop his bro for his hoe, if he was given a choice. Would it make him a bad person? The fact that Wu Xie chose to save Xiaoge before Pangzi makes his a bad person? My point is it's not all that easy.

I just feel like many ppl in this fandom are very weird about many things. Either because they do not get what it's like to go through some things or maybe they just do not get that no matter how cheesy this sounds love is not that simple. I mean, for example not all selfish is bad, sometimes like in Haru's case for example not being selfish is also bad. Bc if he finally asks for what he wants, he will make both himself AND Rin happy.

To be angry at Rin bc of the aftermath of his father's death and s1 I never had it in me, after knowing everything and how adults handled it. If some of Sousuke's fans bc of Yakusoku and the fact that Rin found his salvation in Haru bc he helped him to move forward after getting his family out of this hell alone and that Haru was the safe haven that made him happy in this moment of his life, want to trash Rin for the fact that he "neglected" Sousuke, its like your opinion. I personally do not get it. Rin doesn't owe Sousuke anything. It's not his fault again that Haru's existence helped him to feel better.

Just like not everyone will get why Haru in 1x12 was so happy about the fact that he could help Rin. To be that special somebody for someone who can "save" you in moments of your life like this, especially if you love them is an incredible feeling. And no, your bestie isn't always the person for this job, no. I don't see why people do not get that I guess, that's all. But we all have our own opinion on everything, so...

We same as you do not get it since forever, but its like it is what it is in this fandom. I personally just have another life position on stuff, so I'm very far from that point of view they have.

[foundfamilynonsense]

When I was in middle school (6th grade) we read this poem in English class that didn’t capitalize the word “I.”

The poem didn’t capitalize names or the first word in a sentence either. It also spelled a few things wrong.

The teacher asked us why and I decided not to answer bc I was shy and didn’t speak back then. A bunch of kids eventually raised their hands. One said perhaps this was a poem written by an old student and an example of what not to do? The teach was like no no this is a published poem.

Then the answers continued. Did the publisher make a mistake? Did the author make a mistake? Was there an issue with printing? It went on for a pitiful amount of time before the teacher snapped and said no this was written and edited and published by professionals. They might have made mistakes but not this many. Not so easy to see that even a class of six graders could fix it. Published authors know to capitalize “I”.

Us few who knew the answer from stage one were kinda embarrassed for staying quiet for so long and so I raised my hand and gave the answer I and a quarter of the class had assumed was obvious: the narrator is a small child. He mentions his grandfather. The misspellings were artistic choices.

This is what fandom feels like.

The number of people in fandom spaces that just assume the writing is flawed or the choreography sucks in a show or movie instead of looking for an artistic choice behind those things is just. Incredible.

Let’s look at Star Wars for example. I’ve seen so many people call the fighting choreography in Kenobi terrible because of that episode where Obi-Wan is kinda pathetic and weak. And like.

Do people really not see that that’s the point?

Do people really think that that lightsaber battle went through months of practice and choreography, shooting, editing, lighting, etc and every step of the way paid professionals were like “yep that looks like great fighting from Obi-Wan”

You think all these professionals missed it but your keen eye picked it up immediately?

Of course not! He was bad on purpose! And to add insult to injury that’s his entire arc!! He starts out bad so he can get better!! It’s not even hard to find Vader full out says it in the last episode.

And y’know what? Yeah I think the writing in the prequels is bad but no where near as bad as people say it is.

“Why does Anakin come of as so whiny in attack of the clones” oh idk maybe because that’s exactly what the writers and actors were going for??

Hayden KILLED IT as Anakin. His acting was excellent! Were there some lines that he had nothing to go on? Sure. The sand line for instance. But if he was acting creepy or cringe? Hey. Maybe. Just maybe. The guy with tons of acting experience, the director, the actors he shared scenes with, the writers, and the editors didn’t all just miss this or decide it was good enough. Maybe that’s actually what they were going for with his character.

Yes, movies can be bad. Lots of movies are bad. But their flaws are usually more nuanced like “they didn’t understand the fan base” or “the trend to make movies pitch black has become annoying” or “they were underfunded” or “there was a pacing problem due to a writer’s strike”. Not “these paid professionals are just worse at this than I am”.

At least giving professionals the benefit of the doubt that they knew what they were doing. You don’t have to agree with their artistic decisions but like come on people. Sometimes things are “bad” or “wrong” on purpose.

[autisticcassandracain]

24, 25 and 28, cass for both

24. Ship(s) that makes you cringe.

Honestly unless I directly state otherwise it's pretty safe to assume I'm cringing at your ship.

25. Has fanon or canon been worse to Cass?

Tough call tbh. But honestly? Tentatively going with fanon, because fanon!Cass isn't a character. She exists to be page filler or a therapist. While canon has fucked over Cass royally, it also gave her a 70-issue long solo that was, for the most part, pretty damn good. And the bad stuff at least gives me something to talk about. Fanon Cass is just... nothing.

28. What’s a popular fandom take you disagree with about Cass?

I'm trying to think, and maybe it's just bc I'm tired and my brain isn't working great, but I think I mostly agree with fandom takes on Cass? At least, when it comes to fans of her actual canon character, rather than like, the fanon fans. In terms of popular headcanons, I don't necessarily think that ASL would be as magical a solution for her as it's often portrayed, due to the fact that her language troubles are rooted in a fundamental lack of ability to understand constructed language, but I still do like the headcanon that she uses it because I do think it'd be easier for her to use than English because a) I headcanon her as autistic and a lot of non/semi-verbal autistics do find ASL easier to use than verbal language, and b) she wouldn't have to pronounce the words with her mouth. But tbh that's less of a disagreement on whether she would use/benefit from ASL to begin with, and more of a disagreement on the way it's usually portrayed.

In terms of disagreements on canon characterization, whoever... idk. Maybe that I think the vast majority of her moral system is based on projection rather than an innate understanding of morality? It's not that she's never thought about morality, in fact a large part of her solo was her being confronted with difficult questions regarding morality time and time again, but I think part of the reason those storylines work so well is that, by nature, Cass's moral system wasn't so much consciously constructed as it was guided by projection.

She saw the way the life leaves a person when they die, and it traumatized her and made her understand what 'death' is on a level deeper than most people, so she decided murder was bad. She didn't factor 'murder bad' into her moral system due to any conscious deliberate thought process that lead her to think of murder as bad, at least, not initially. Similarly, her belief that criminals/villains can get better is due to her projecting upon them, and needing to believe they can get better, because she needs to believe she can get better. Not due to sitting down and thinking about restorative justice.

The reason her solo decided to challenge her on morality so often is to have her build up a more conscious moral system, and examine the ways in which her projection can often be as harmful as it is helpful. And she did! By the time she moved to Bludhaven, she'd build up a solid moral system based as much on her own personal experience as it was based on sitting down and thinking about morality.

I also think this is the primary difference between her and Bruce, ultimately; Bruce constructed his moral system by logically thinking about the pros and cons of his actions and coming to conclusions that way, whereas Cass's moral system is largely based on instinct and projection. It's not that Bruce's moral system isn't also partially based in personal experience, or that Cass's moral system isn't partially build upon logical examinations of morality, but that's where their cores are, imo.

Anyway, to get back to the point, I guess I disagree with the fandom take that Cass as a person has a natural sense of morality. It's easy to simplify Cass to someone who's just innately good, a simplification I have also made to avoid writing the paragraphs above into every post, but idk, I can never tell how much people mean that literally and how many are using it as shorthand, so. there's that I guess.

[arofili]

how’d u get into writing? like, writing fic and being part of the silm community, being Known, that stuff? i’m really new to being a silm cc and i’d love to know ur advice! also: how’d u build up the confidence to start posting meta/hcs? bc i have a Lot of hcs and meta ideas but also i’m really anxious abt posting them bc yknow anxiety is like that

these are some great questions, anon! I’m gonna go through them one by one :)

how’d u get into writing?

not to be like, super cliche, but I’ve...kind of always been a writer? as long as I can remember I’ve been telling stories, and when I was too young to read or write I would dictate them to my mom, who would type them up for me and help me choose clipart illustrations to accompany them. when I got old enough I would always be writing; I attempted my first novel at age 9, and while that never really went anywhere I did finish the darn thing and it had some pretty sophisticated plot twists for a 9-year-old!

like, writing fic

around the same time I got into fandom! I was deep into Warrior cats (like. really deep) and I believe I started writing my first fics when I was like? 10 or 11? my memory is kind of fuzzy on the order of things, but I know I got an account on the Warriors forums when I was 9, and that I was already posting my fic there when I made my FFN account. I believe I was 12 when that happened, but who knows. I haven’t the faintest idea of what happened with those forums, but uhhh pretty much all of my Warriors fic is still up on FFN lmao. you could probably find that if you want to but um...maybe don’t?

my first Big Fic was a self-insert of...my entire 5th/6th grade class into the then-current timeline of the Warriors books...well. I honestly think that might still be my most popular fic of all time l m a o though I try not to think about it because Hashtag Cringe. though as much as I look back on that time with a “yikes,” I am very grateful for the Warriors fandom in a way? that place was so accepting and encouraging of OCs, of AUs, of completely disregarding canon, of worldbuilding that is completely alien from canon - it was a fantastic sandbox to begin with, there were so many ways to write stories and practically all of them were accepted and had fellow fans invested in them!

and being part of the silm community, 

soooo I wrote Warriors fic until my freshman year of high school (wow sdjfhkdsjfh), which was when BOTFA came out, and I was absolutely wrecked by the ending and immediately started writing my own fixit fic. I was also super hooked on Kiliel! so that was my intro to the Tolkien fandom; and simultaneously, I joined tumblr, and, well, the rest is history tbh.

I honestly do not remember when I first read the Silm, but I kind of got into the more obscure parts of the Tolkien fandom through fandom osmosis, and I do have a vague memory of doodling the Finwean family tree in geometry class so it might have been later on in freshman year? that was also the same time I was having my Queer Awakening, and Russingon definitely contributed to me unlearning my internalized queerphobia, so probably around then.

anyway - queer awakening, tumblr, Tolkien, transitioning from FFN to AO3 - all of that was happening around the same time. I know I dipped my toes in the Silm fandom then, but I was still primarily a Hobbit fic writer focusing on Kiliel. toward the end of high school I kind of shifted to LOTR and (qp) Gigolas...but somehow the Silm fandom is the most active of the Big Three within the Tolkien fandom, and I was getting dragged further and further in.

it wasn’t until @backtomiddleearthmonth 2019, my freshman year of college, that I really dove into writing Silm fic! I picked some Silm-specific bingo cards and never looked back :D that was really not all that long ago but I am obsessed in a way I don’t really remember being even with TH/LOTR, I obviously cannot see the future but I anticipate hanging out here for a long time. the Silm fandom is great overall and there’s just so much material to work with!! <3

being Known, that stuff?

so I don’t really have a whole lot of context on how “well known” I am in the fandom?? definitely within the past year and a half or so I’ve noticed that I like, get asks like this, and get a significant amount of notes on my posts, and I’ve made a lot of fandom friends especially since I joined some Silm servers on Discord (hmu if you want invites; I’m on the SWG server and 2 general Silm servers and the Russingon server) this past year. and I have 3,000 followers as of this month - and while ever since I hit 1k I don’t particularly pay attention to my follower count I can definitely say that I have more engagement now than I used to! but it took me a long time to build this “audience,” I suppose; I’ve been around the Tolkien fandom since late 2014, so nearly 6 years of this, lol.

really the best way to build a following, in my experience, is to just post a lot of stuff. when I started making edits I got a lot more engagement, because for a long time I would post one every day! (I made them in batches and queued them; I didn’t actually make one every day lol...and now I’m too busy to do that, so I just make edits for events and whenever I feel like it) And I have [checks ao3] 145 works in the Silm fandom as of today - I’m fairly prolific! I’ve come to generally expect 3-10 comments on most of my oneshots, which is a lot more than I used to have back in the day. consistency and quantity are more likely to attract people to your work - and quality, of course.

also: how’d u build up the confidence to start posting meta/hcs?

I’ve been writing since I was very young, and I’ve been writing fic for like...11 years? I think? in that time I’ve produced a lot of garbage, but imo most of that was in my Warrior cats phase, so I came into the Tolkien fandom with confidence in myself and my writing. I’m also working on original fiction on the side (I hope to eventually become a published fantasy author, but right now school takes up most of my time that I don’t devote to fandom, which gives me more immediate gratification and also is just Very Fun) and I know I’m a good writer.

basically, I’ve been doing this for like...half my life, and I’m still fairly young, so I’ve had time to build up my skill and confidence and I know I’m only going to get better with time. you will get better with practice. like I said, I’ve written a lot of terrible stuff, and it’s only through sucking for a long time that I’ve gotten to the point I am now. and I am far from perfect; I know I still have lots of room to grow!

for meta and headcanons specifically, I started with writing fic, and then when I didn’t think I could stretch something into an entire fic I would just make a hc post. I have a vivid memory of writing my first meta in a notebook during driver’s ed because it was so goddamn boring and I had Thoughts about Tauriel and Thranduil!

in my experience, meta comes from having Opinions and wanting to share them and most importantly to back them up - you need to have sources! you need to have reasons! you need to have justification! otherwise it’s not meta, it’s a headcanon or an AU. which is fine!! I love hc/AU!!! but they are not the same as meta, and I’m a stickler for being accurate when it comes to meta. if you have sources and shit to back you up, that will help you build the confidence to share your meta.

sharing disinformation and passing it off as meta instead of just coming out and saying this is a headcanon/baseless theory/AU or whatever is such a fandom pet peeve of mine; it’s not bad for something to not be Accurate! you just have to have that disclaimer - and even when you’re writing meta, you’re offering an interpretation of the text, and you need to acknowledge that other interpretations also exist and are valid.

um. I hope this answers your questions? and sorry for basically word-vomiting my entire life story, lol. this post got long; the main reason I’ve written so much fic is because I really just cannot shut up for the life of me. sooo if you can tear of that filter of being shy and just. say shit. you can go so far~!

OH and one more thing - I can’t believe I almost forgot this - but part of being a writer is participating in the community. this is code for LEAVE A DAMN COMMENT IF YOU LIKE A FIC. that’s how I made most of my fandom friends before Discord! I follow @ao3feed-silmarillion and stalk that blog for new Silm fics; I read the ones that interest me and comment on them.

I know this is not really the most common way for folks to find fic but it’s so rewarding to interact with new fic, new writers, new commentors, new stories - you can find gems that don’t rise to the top of the kudos/bookmark lists; you become friends with your fellow writers; you can watch people grow and change; you support smaller content creators. yeah, you might not be getting Just The Best Stuff, but it’s so so so worth it!!

and if you make friends in the comment section of other people’s fic - I guarantee you some of them will go to your AO3 profile and check out your fic, too! and they’ll leave comments! this is a fic community, and that’s what I cherish about fandom most of all, tbh.

anyway - again - sorry for rambling so much, but I hoped this helped! feel free to send in another ask, or to come talk to me off anon if you’d like! and definitely send me your stuff if/when you decide to share it; I would love to support you!!! <3

[gaylotusthatexists]

For the Bad Things Bingo: damaged wing(s)? Either an Angel, Fallen Angel, or Demon AU (or a combination of you want) of Remus and Logan (or another ship if you don’t want to write them) where maybe Roman had something to do with Remus getting hurt and Logan helps him? Also mayhaps Remus has one of those “I don’t need your pity!” moments

fallen

fandom: sanders sides

pairing: intrulogical 

prompt: damaged wings

trigger warnings: sympathetic remus, unsympathetic roman, religion, blood, injuries, drowning, needles

word count: 2237

a/n: this is written for the @badthingshappenbingo! ngl i saw this request and immediately got excited so. yeah. this was a lot of fun for me thank you. anyway this was lowkey inspired by good omens bc that’s just what happens when I try to write about angels and demons apparently. hope y’all enjoy~

ao3

It hurt.

It hurt so much.

There had been a fight. Screaming. Shouting. He'd been pushed around and insulted and told that he was evil over and over and it made no sense, because he'd done nothing. Only dared to think a little differently, to question everything that they'd been told. What was wrong with questioning things? What was wrong with wanting more out of life? For wanting more for them?

Then there'd been blood. It was difficult to tell if it had been his own blood or his brother's, but it was there nonetheless. He didn't even know that angels could bleed. Sure, he'd seen the humans bleed, seen how they'd fight one another, hurt one another, kill one another, just because they dared to think differently. He supposed the same had happened to him. He should have just accepted things, like everyone else did. He shouldn't have tried to talk to his brother about it all.

And then there was the fall. That was perhaps the worst bit. Falling through the air, wind crashing against his cheeks, his heartbeat pounding in his ears, the pain he felt upon colliding with the ground, an intense shock sent through his entire body. He didn't even know that angels were capable of feeling pain - he'd certainly never felt pain before. Pain was supposed to be reserved for the humans.

And now every time he moved, he felt that pain again, like torture. He supposed this was torture. A punishment, for going against what was intended. He was on a rock, a sharp, hard, cold rock, and could hear the sound of the ocean near him, occasionally feel a splash of salt water land on his skin. That made the pain slightly more bearable - he certainly didn't get this back in Heaven, and it was... nice, in a way. Peaceful.

Until he tried to move again and that peace was immediately disturbed. He pushed himself up to his feet, at first stumbling and almost fall back down again until he regained his balance, leaning back against a cliff behind him. He breathed in and out, staring down into the ocean below. It... It was a lot less peaceful when he actually looked at it, saw the waves crashing against the rocks, threatening to pull him in.

He was pretty sure that he couldn't die - at least, not in the way that humans did - so falling into the ocean shouldn't have been so scary for him. But then again, earlier that day he thought it wasn't possible for him to feel pain, or be expelled from Heaven, yet here he was, all alone in Earth, nowhere to go.

At the very least, though, he figured he could try to get away from the water. It was unlikely that he would die, but... just in case, he wanted to get away. He spread out his wings, ignoring the jolt of pain up his back as he did so, and took off, a smile emerging across his face as he soared through the air, until-

Everything was dark, and quiet, and he couldn't breathe anymore - he hadn't breathed back there, but now he needed to breath apparently, and it wasn't working. His lungs ached, his wings felt heavy and useless, and no matter how hard he tried to move it wouldn't work.

Well. Maybe he could die in the ocean. He supposed he didn't have anything to lose, anyway.

But then he felt something grab him, pulling him away, just as he blacked out.

He woke up again on the shore, coughing and spluttering, the sand coarse against his skin. He sat up and glanced around, cringing again as he moved. There was... There was someone else on the beach now, a human, standing a little away from him. The human was also dripping wet, but didn't seem to care as much as the angel did - well, not exactly angel anymore, he wasn't entirely sure what he was anymore.

The human stared at him, curiously, and the not-quite-angel stared back, before deciding to ignore the human and continue attempting to get away from here. Perhaps flying over the ocean wasn't a good idea - he didn't particularly want to experience whatever that was again. Drowning, he guessed? Was that what drowning was? He suddenly felt terrible for all the times the angels had inflicted that upon humans, even if they were humans that had been deemed 'bad'.

But he only got a few metres into the sky before he came crashing down again, this time a slightly softer landing on the sand but still hurting like hell, considering he wasn't used to so much pain. He glanced back at his wings, beginning to think that maybe something was wrong, and his theories proved to be correct. His previously white wings had turned black, with green highlights here and there, and it probably didn't help that there was a massive tear right down the centre of his left wing. Upon seeing the tear, tears began forming in his eyes, as the pain and the suffering and the complete helplessness of his situation finally fully caught up.

He sat in the sand, head buried in his knees and arms wrapped around his legs, his wings curling in over his body. This was it, wasn't it? He was stuck here. He couldn't escape, he couldn't return back home, he couldn't even fly.

He felt someone standing behind him, and raised his head slightly, glancing through the hole in his wings. It was the human. Oh. He turned back to his sulking position, once again ignoring the humans presence.

"Um, sorry to interrupt your... uh, whatever this is," the human said, moving around him so he was now in front of him, "but I just wanted to check if you're okay? If you perhaps need of any help?"

The ex-angel looked up, glaring at the human in an attempt to scare him away, but it didn't work. Instead, the human sat down with him, his eyes will filled with curiosity.

"I'm Logan," the human said. "I, uh, don't know if that's any use for you, but I figured you may trust me a little more if you knew who I was."

Here he paused, as if he was expecting the ex-angel to offer up his own name, but the ex-angel refused to respond.

"Are these wings real?" Logan continued, reaching out a hand to touch the wings. The ex-angel jerked his wings back, and shuffled a little away from Logan, not wanting to hurt himself any further. "Sorry." Logan's hands landed in his lap. "I, uh..."

"Why are you talking to me?" the ex-angel snapped.

Logan blinked, but other than that didn't show any signs of alarm upon the ex-angels outburst. "I helped you out the water," he said, "and, well, I notice you're having a little trouble, so..."

"I'm not 'having a little trouble'." He wings fell to his side, now displaying his full body to Logan. His torn clothes, the cuts and bruises all over his skin, the sand sticking to his wet arms. "And, quite frankly, I don't particularly want you to be 'helping' me right now."

For a moment, Logan didn't reply, but it didn't seem like he was going to move. The ex-angel looked back down to the floor, silently praying that the human would just leave him alone. Ha, as if praying would do him any good. Everyone up there hated him now, they weren't gonna do anything. He was almost as pathetic as the humans, possibly even more pathetic.

"I'm really sorry, about whatever happened-"

"I don't need your pity," he spat, trying to stand up and move away but finding his legs incapable of moving. God, his entire body ached - his limbs felt heavy and refused to do their jobs.

Logan breathed in. "Well, at least let me help you fix your wings," he offered.

The ex-angel glanced up at Logan, frowning a little. The human still wasn't leaving. He seemed determined to help him. And that didn't make much sense. The human would get nothing out of it, apart from maybe secure himself a place in Hell for fraternising with... a demon. Is that what he was now? He definitely wasn't an angel anymore, so...

Logan seemed to take his silence as permission to fix his wings, and the demon didn't protest. He felt the human's hand stroking his feathers, sending a chill up his spine - an unfamiliar chill, one that he'd never experienced or even wanted to experience before, but certainly not an unwelcome one. The demon was shaking, against his own will, but couldn't seem to get himself to stop. It didn't seem to faze the human, either.

Logan hummed. "Stay here," he said, before standing up and running away from the beach. Oh, great, his help had left him. So much for that. The demon desperately wanted the human to touch him again, he wanted to feel that... nice pain, in his heart. But it seemed like the human had abandoned him too. He supposed that is what he had wanted.

He looked out across the ocean, watching the sunset over the horizon, reds and oranges reflecting on the water. He glanced up, watching the clouds pass by in the sky above. He imagined that everyone who used to be his friend was watching him now, laughing at him, condemning him. A part of him told himself that he deserved it, but...

Logan came back. The demon frowned. That... He hadn't been expecting that.

The demon breathed in and out as Logan got to work on his wings, flinching a little whenever Logan stuck a needle into his wing but figuring that, over the past few hours, he'd felt much greater pain than that. He tried his very best not to shake, to make it a little easier for Logan, but couldn't help himself. Logan didn't seem to care much.

"I'm Remus," the demon found himself saying. He didn't know why he suddenly felt like opening up to Logan, but... Logan was helping him, so he couldn't be bad, right?

"Remus," Logan muttered, under his breath. "And, what, you just fell from the sky?"

"Yeah, basically," Remus said, relaxing a little. The sunset was calming, and the feel of Logan's fingers over Remus' wings was soothing, and for a moment Remus thought that maybe this was better than Heaven. Up there, it was only really his brother who had truly cared for him, for everyone else he was just a pawn to be played with in their sick little game. Now, even his brother hated him, and since he refused to play God's game the other angels had no use for him. So he was cast away. Banished. Abandoned.

"That sounds awful," Logan said. Oh. Remus hadn't realised that he'd been saying all of that out loud.

"It's my brother who did this," Remus said. "We were fighting and God intervened and threw me out."

Logan hummed. "Did He not throw your brother out, too?"

Remus scoffed. "Roman can do no wrong. He's... a higher rank than me, anyway. And he'll play God's game. I... I was in the wrong, not him."

"It seems to me like they're all missing out," Logan mused. "There's nothing wrong with change."

"That's what I tried to tell them! I thought that maybe we'd be able to make the world a better place, but... they won't listen."

Logan snipped off the thread and stepped back. Remus lifted his hand up to his wing, where there had previously been a hole, and found a piece of fabric holding it together. Oh. Logan had... fixed it. He lifted his wings, then stood up, ignoring the ache in his bones as he flapped his wings again. For a few minutes, he hovered in the air, grinning before he landed again, gently.

"Thank you," he breathed, smiling at Logan.

Logan nodded. "It's no problem, really. Where will you be heading now?"

Remus' face fell. "I... hadn't thought of that." He didn't really have anywhere to go. Heaven wouldn't want him back, and he supposed that the next option would be Hell, but... he didn't particularly want to go there, either. Switching teams wouldn't mean that he could stop playing the game.

Logan considered him for a moment, looking him up and down, before holding out a hand. "Come with me."

Remus frowned. "I..."

"You can stay with me, as long as you need," Logan offered. "I, uh, don't have much, but it might be nice to have some company. And maybe I can help you figure out your next move."

"You... do realise that I'm a demon, right?" Remus checked.

Logan shrugged. "Being a demon doesn't necessarily mean that you're evil."

Remus blinked. "Uh. That's. Kind of the definition of a demon, actually."

"Honestly, it sounds to me as though it's the angels who are the evil ones," Logan said. "You just strived to make a difference. I respect you, for that."

Huh. No one had ever... respected him, before. He'd always just been in the background, a tool for other people's gain, most of the angels had hated him even before he went off.

Remus took Logan's hand and followed him home. Maybe he could make a new life here. Not as an angel, not as a demon, but as a human.

[stitch1830]

ATLA Q&A

So I got tagged by @mycomfortblanket​ and @dannyurl​ but it wouldn’t let me reblog on the thread so I made a new one lol. Never really thought about these questions til now, so good exercise!

1. What is your favorite character?

Toph Beifong. Need I say more?

2. What is your comfort character?

Hmmm, does Appa count? If yes, then Appa. He’s a good, chill pal. I’d snuggle with him.

3. Which element would you bend if you could?

Probably earthbending. I like the fighting style of firebenders a bit more, but I think that the element of earth has more opportunities and possibilities to adapt the martial art and then also bending the different compositions of earth lol. Plus metalbending is a dope technique and I would love to be able to do that as well.

4. What’s your favorite nation?

Probably Earth Kingdom. Idk, maybe because it’s the biggest nation, so there are lots of different cities to travel to. I can’t really explain why it’s my favorite lol.

5. What makes you love ATLA the most?

Probably just the established world. If I ever try to make up my own stories, creating the setting and space the story takes place in is always the hardest for me. So the fact that there are multiple nations, maps, cities, and cultures associated with the story, and those background details are fleshed out is pretty impressive. And even as a kid I noticed that.

COULD GET YOU ATTACKED QUESTIONS

1. Who is your least favorite character in the gaang?

I think as a kid, I didn’t care for Sokka or Aang. Sokka seemed useless to the team to me as a kid and then all of a sudden he was an expert strategist in my head. And Aang bothered me because he was a bald kid with tattoos lol. Weird for my 10-year-old brain to wrap around at the time. I love both of them now, obviously, and see my flawed thought process as a kid lol. Otherwise, I never cared for Mai or Ty Lee.

2. What character do you think is severely underrated?

Mmmm, idk. No one from the Gaang seems underrated, nor do the main villains. I’ll find realms of the fandom that tend to overrate characters, so I feel like a lot of them get the love and appreciation they need. Even Cabbage Man has support. Like, okay.

Maybe Freedom Fighters? Like, all of the minor ones. They kind of come and go as they please, and they probably need more backstory than they actually get.

3. What’s your least favorite nation?

Again, as a kid I never liked that all the Air nation people were bald and had tattoos. Not the smartest logic on my end lol. But idk, I still prefer the other nations now.

4. What is your controversial ATLA opinion?

I actually struggle to watch the show now as an adult and after reading some fantastic posts on Tumblr about the show’s flaws. Obviously I shouldn’t judge the show based on bad writing near the end or series finale relationships, but I can barely watch it now without seeing the hints of romantic relationships and cringe or just... knowing that the outcome of the show isn’t what I particularly want to see. It’s easier for me to just stay in fanfiction and read about fan theories and then come up with my own outcomes. 

The show used to satisfy me, but now? Not so much. I like, only watch season 2 now if I want to watch it at all, mainly for Toph and because there aren’t as many obviously displays of Aang crushing on Katara.

SHIPPING QUESTIONS

1. What’s your favorite ship and why?

Canon ships only.

JK. Taang. Taang for days. As a couple, I see them having a lighthearted relationship where they know how to balance each other. They are powerful and strong and independent on their own and certainly don’t need to be in a relationship, but they would choose to be together because they add value to their lives and want to be together. They’ve got that classic ‘opposites attract’ dynamic that isn’t like “I can’t live without you” feeling, but more like “You help me be better” feel. 

Before finding Taang, I never really shipped Toph with anyone, and didn’t even know she had canon kids until like... the pandemic started lol. I just thought she’d be a badass and wreak havoc on the world and be responsible for only herself. And if I did ship her with a character, it was usually Sokka bc of the angst and canon compliance it provided. But after reading a few Taang fics, there was actually potential for her to be in a longstanding and committed relationship with someone that made sense to me. It was cool to find a ship that opened my eyes to that, because otherwise, I would’ve never assumed or thought she’d ever marry or have kids or anything. 

Tokka is a close second because it got me into reading fanfiction, but idk Taang is just feels so right to me lol.

2. What’s your least favorite ship?

After reading lots of metas, I don’t like Mai/Zuko and Aang/Katara. They just rub me the wrong way now.

3. Do you sometimes self-insert?

As far as inserting myself into a romantic relationship with ATLA characters... No. Not my cup of tea.

I do sometimes create OCs that are just like... best friends with the Gaang and went through their own shit during the war. But they don’t resemble me at all. If anything, they mirror the personality of the character they’re close with, simply because I think friendships where characters have very similar personalities would be interesting. We see a lot of opposite duos, romantic and platonic, and I certainly do the same thing in my life (I have lots of friends where I am not like them at all, but we’re really close). But to see relationships where they act very similar... Interesting dynamic. They probably butt heads a lot and fight a lot, but also really understand what the other needs for help, and... yeah. Those friendships seem unappreciated to me. So I like to make those up lol.

4. What ship would you make canon if you were the creator?

I wouldn’t make ATLA about romantic relationships. If anything, I would emphasize the family aspect of the team, then let fans and audiences decide who works best with who ~after~ the show ends lol. I tend to like endings with open interpretation, and also, just based on my personal life/preference, I think it’s sometimes weird when really really close friends get together in relationships afterwards. Like, I’ll think of those friends as my family, and dating ‘practically family’ is sometimes weird imo lol. Of course, I know why those relationships tend to happen, mostly because those characters are the only ones that can relate to the war trauma they all went through, so I get that and love that aspect of it. 

I would certainly lean in the direction of the Big Three: Zutara, Sukka, and Taang, just by pointing out their dynamic, having them confide in one another, or something of the sort. But no one would like, get together at the end.

My thoughts on ATLA, and I’m going to tag anyone that wants to do this! I’m looking at you. ;)

[mjwatson]

the MJ/gwen debacle

“mary jane loved spider-man and gwen loved peter parker / gwen is the better character and love interest than mj.”

i’m sorry, i’m just tired. so i decided to make a master post once and for all bc i am over itttt.

anybody who has been following me longer than a week probably knows i despise gwen. not necessarily because of the character, but because of her fandom. BUT i am going to try my absolute best to remain professional and not let my hatred for the character seep into this. i mean... i am only human so i can’t promise i’ll be perfect, but let’s do this.

let me start this off by saying, i despise the mindset that if you don’t read the comics, you’re a lesser fan, and i despise the people who look down on people who only watch the movies. that is not what this is about. i am not trying to flex my comic book muscles at you. you’re entitled to your opinions and don’t have to justify them or be incredibly knowledgable in your opinions. but if you are only a movie fan, and find yourself spreading FALSE information about a FIFTEEN YEAR OLD inaccurate portrayal of MJ and a five year old portrayal of gwen stacy that is JUST as inaccurate (as her character in the TASM movies are heavily based off of MJ), that’s not cool. do not be that person.

so if you want to know how both relationships went down in the comics, feel free to read on. please be aware this looks like a long ass post, only because i included a lot of comic panels. if you want to just read the text then the post will move along a lot quicker.

gwendolyn maxine stacy. very first appearance in the amazing spider-man #31 with harry osborn and flash thompson. throughout this issue, gwen thinks how despite peter not being built, that he’s smart and good looking, attractive etc. peter has been in his head all day because his aunt was sick.

gwen decides to finally talk to him after thinking that he’s cute.

when peter can’t give her the time of day, she gets icy and storms off. 

some other things happen with peter, still has his mind elsewhere, and gwen stacy tries again.

not being able to handle the fact that he isn’t giving her attention, and getting mad about it. she then isn’t in the next few issues. when she does reappear, she’s revelling in the attention she is getting.

then gwen and peter’s first real interaction happens.

still icy cold towards him. then she doesn’t appear for another few issues. the next time we see her, she persist.

still no luck. she’s still angry and tells him she thinks he’s a coward.

literally all she has done so far since being introduced is be mad lmao. and then she literally just makes fun of him. i’m not even skipping scenes or anything.

sure peter could be more friendly and not so immersed with his secret identity, but you never know what’s going on with somebody, so this behaviour is just immature to me (i mean i blame the writers, but since gwen is a character written by these writers, unfortunately that’s how she is). in the next scene she’s – shocker – still mad, and even tries to slap him. to be fair, peter’s a douche in this scene too. bad bad writing.

idk if this is their way in trying to build up sexy fiery passion or something... but it was just executed so poorly. gwen was mad because peter wasn’t giving her attention so she pouted about it, and then now they are enemies? whaaat.

but i guess that interaction... somehow worked? because in the next scene she’s sticking up for him a little. so that cool of gwen, props.

over the next few issues, not much happens with her. she either just appears and doesn’t say anything, or thinks about peter, or they flirt a little bit like this:

so that was issue #31 to issue #41. 10 issues. of gwen being mad at peter for not paying attention to her, and them starting to flirt a bit when he finally did. 

then in issue #42, mary jane watson is brought up, and gwen is not too please about it, gets pissed off, and takes it out on flash.

peter fights some baddies, goes back home, and then the iconic face it tiger scene with mary jane watson happens 11 issues after gwen’s first appearance.

the next issue we get to take a look at how the blind date is going and... let me warn you....... mary jane talks so fucking weird/funny oh my god. these comics do not age well. her lingo makes me cringe but i love her anyways. what we gather from this is that she’s fun and peter is smitten with her. she’s easy going and is taking drama classes.

she’s care free and doesn’t take herself too seriously.

then rhino stuff happens and peter is thinking of a way to bail on mj, but then she suggests they hop on his motorcycle and drive down to the action to see it for themselves. 

so then pete blows her off cause he has to do spidey things and when they reunite, mj isn’t mad about it, and they actually make plans to hang out some more.

he then bumps into flash, harry and gwen, and they give him a hard time and peter compares gwen to mj, saying that he bet mj wouldn’t stand by like gwen did when flash was bullying him.

the next issue they’re all hanging together, studying, and mj walks in, and they all meet her for the first time.

the first thing mj actually does is address gwen, being perfectly pleasant. then she takes peter away on a date, and gwen gets jealous and takes it out on flash.

peter becomes very smitten with mj.

but then peter cancels their plans on her twice in a row and she doesn’t get mad at all. she just stays chill about it. but she ends up making other plans, and peter sees her and harry out to go to the disco, and peter is an ass.

over the next bit they all hang out together, peter and mj are flirty, gwen is finally letting her hair down a bit and dancing. they’re all becoming pals!

then peter wants gwen again bc peter can’t make up his fkin mind clearly, and gwen is the one to blow him off this time. the good thing is, she’s being nice about mary jane at least! i do like how they are friends in the comics.

peter goes back and forth on gwen and mj for multiple issues, they both clearly like him back. nothing too groundbreaking to share as of yet. i’m just thankful for mj and gwen’s friendship. i hate how people forget that when pitting the girls against each other.

this is pretty much one of the only times it’s mentioned that gwen is into science tho...

then peter and mj are hanging, and gwen shows up.

gwen says something very interesting in the panel above. peter jokes wondering if mj is ever serious, and gwen says “far more often than she’d like you to suspect, mr. p”. this kind of foreshadows mj’s actual character, how she’s a party girl, flaky, care free, and it’s all a mask. because in reality, she had an awful, abusive home life, and not being serious is how she copes with that. so that was insightful on gwen’s part, or just some forshadowing from the writers.

not much happens for a few issues. then peter and gwen have their first kiss.

then a baddie tries to use mj as a shield, and peter saves her. she’s the first to swing with spidey! and then mj jokes about it and brushes it off because she’s strong af.

then peter and captain stacy got in a kerfuffle and they were fighting, and cap stacy was about to whack peter with his cane, but peter’s spider senses wet off and knocked cap stacy to the ground. gwen ran in and saw it, and got mad at peter.

not much happens for awhile. everyone is so preoccupied with their own problems. peter can’t stop thinking of gwen, she is still mad at him, etc etc.

it’s funny bc the readers were preferring mj at this time despite them trying to make the peter/gwen thing a thing, so stan lee made mj get a god awful, ugly haircut in hopes it would make people like gwen more.

still lots of drama with gwen’s dad, gwen is still not talking to peter, but they both think of each other, mj isn’t in the comics for a bit.

but then gwen’s dad finally tells gwen what happened so then they’re all good again.

so then they’re good. they’re dating again. but this happens lmao

then gwen gets mad at him later on for constantly disappearing. while gwen does get mad too often, i agree with her on this because peter is very flaky (for good reason, but she doesn’t know that).

mary jane is MIA from the comics for a long time and the non spidey scenes normally just consist of gwen and peter being good for a little bit and then inevitably fighting again over something dumb.

more of just contant on n off again, happy n pissed off at each other, etc etc, i think the writers were out of ideas lol. THEN 17 FREAKING ISSUES LATER MJ FINALLY RETURNS. with better hair.

then peter and gwen are really good and in love, then gwen and peter get hit by a truck, peter doesn’t visit gwen in the hospital till later cause of spidey stuff, gwen gets mad at him for it. LOTS OF BACK AND FORTH GOD DAMN.

then it finally got enough and in a frenzy peter tells everyone he’s spider-man, and gwen does not take the news well.

but then at the end of the issue he says he had the flu and didn’t mean what he said and gwen was happy again.

but then peter was with cap stacy when he died, and people blamed spider-man for captain stacy’s dead.

resulting in gwen hating spider-man because she blamed him for her father’s death.

then gwen says she’s gonna move to london to live w/ her uncle. and peter doesn’t want her to go. and they say i love you and it’s sweet, but then she mentions how she hates peter’s other half again.

gwen goes to london and they breakup.

all throughout the comic there’s always little things like this where it’s very clear mj is into peter. she never even remotely talks about spider-man, it’s always about peter.

but gwen is still peter’s high school sweetheart and he still loves her and thinks about her, and she him.

so she comes back to new york.

then they’re in looooove. but there’s not much content of them being together n happy for the next few issues, it’s mainly just spidey fighting bad guys. then when she does come back peter is rude n lies to her and then gwen is sad again.

THEN THEY’RE FINE AGAIN GJDSKSGJDKG I CAN’T KEEP TRACK

okay you guys it honestly goes back and forth so much. they’re good, then they’re awful, they’re good, then they’re awful. so i’m not going to be providing those panels anymore because i think you get the idea that it’s pretty unstable.

she does stick up for peter though, which is pretty awesome.

but then

the time has come

where gwen dies

and then one of the most iconic peter/mj moments happen. peter lashes out at mj because he’s broken about gwen’s death, but despite mj being flighty due to her abusive upbringing, she sticks around anyways.

they originally had her rushing over at the end to hug him, but instead changed it to her just closing the door because that held more weight.

she’s there for him.

mj sticks up for peter and harry, but she’s treated like shit by yet another man.

and here you can see very well how mj really wants to be there for peter, but then her guard is up because all she knows is men treating her like trash. and to prevent anyone getting close to her so they can hurt her, she pushes them away and doesn’t let them in.

but the death of gwen do make them grow and look after each other, getting closer to each other for wanting to be there for each other.

gwen’s death still heavily on peter’s mind, though.

the thing i don’t get about the whole ‘mj only loved spider-man not peter parker’ argument is that MJ WAS SO FUCKIN OBVIOUS ABOUT HER INFATUATION WITH PETER ALL THE TIME AND NEVER SAID ANYTHING ABOUT SPIDER-MAN EVER?

but i love these panels below so, so much. really shows how hard it is for mary jane to let people in/admit her feelings. but it’s very clear she does love him, but peter isn’t emotionally available yet.

except despite them both being stubborn about their feelings, they grow closer and closer.

but peter’s still haunted by gwen.

but then peter and mj have their first kiss, and it changes everything forever.

gwen comes back as a clone, and then this happens.

but then after they depart, this immediately happens, and this has been confirmed that mj and peter solidified their relationship ~*by doin it*~ and it was peter’s first time.

and then thinking of her gives him the strength to fight back.

and then their relationship grows more and more very beautifully, mj letting peter in, peter letting her in. mj finally tells peter she knows he’s spider-man, so she’s the only one who understand that part of his life. 

i’m not going to continue as this post was just about the gwen/mj dynamic while gwen was alive. but if you want to continue reading posts about why i love mj, and peter and mj’s relationship, and how it grew beautifully, you can check out my “reasons why i love mary jane watson” series, as it’s a never ending string of my love!

i hope this was informative. i get so many messages about this so i created this post so i can just direct people this way.

let me know if you have any other recommendations or anything. :)

[mikeswheeler]

I was tagged by the lovely @finnxwheeler​ and @jewishstanuris​ ♡

Okay so answer the questions and then tag 8 people!

What made you sign up to Tumblr? HOOO BOI well i’ve been on this site for,,, a long time lmao i signed up with my first account aka my main, personal one in around early 2011 ??? and it was honestly just bc i wanted to see what this site was all about bc i kept hearing ppl talk about it on other sites and reference it and i was like ???? what is Tumblr anyways ?? (like it was all bc of that “What is air?” stuff that was happening and i was so confused bc i was like why is everyone asking about air and then my older brother was like oh it’s a Tumblr thing so i was like what’s that and well,, the rest is history)

What did your blog start off as being? WELL my first account was basically cringe-central, like this was in 2011 so my content was basically Memes and Tumblr-esque inspirational quotes and cheesy, basic lookin’ photography (i was also really into anime and Harry Potter at the time so that was another thing) (oh and for some reason i had a Lolita phase where i was super into that style of fashion) (i was a weeb as a child)

Have you ever received any creepy asks, and if so, what did they say? Ehhhhhh,,, kind of ??? like i’ve definitely gotten a couple that i either wanted to deflect or i just kind of conveniently deleted it from my inbox and pretended it never happened lmao 

Have you ever had a bad experience on Tumblr? All the pornbots like it’S SO ANNOYING ??? AND GROSS ?? it’s especially apparent on my personal blog idk why but i have to block so many at a time smh 

If you had to pick a favourite English monarch, who would you pick? This is like a question i’ve never had to think about so I’m not really sure what to answer... 

Do you prefer hot or cold? COLD COLD COLD i’m also in California though so our cold isn’t like...... unbearable ya know ??? but i can’t stand being super hot and sweaty, it’s so uncomfortable !!! 

Do you have a special skill or talent? UHM I GUESS ACTING ????????? idk i kinda don’t wanna say that bc that’s implying i’m like ‘good’ at or whatever, but i have been in multiple plays/musicals before and even gotten an award for one of my roles so i guess that counts for something !!! 

Do you have a phobia of anything? Tight spaces, spiders (or just bugs in general), the dark, heights, anything medical related so blood and needles and hospitals and what not, aliens/the paranormal/supernatural (it’s not such a wild concept ok like it’s all totally plausible)... uHM yah i’m a big baby about a lot of things 

If you had to pick a favourite real life villain from history, who would you pick? Again, never had to consider this question before in my life so i’m not really sure !!!

Do you have any dark traits?

There are times where i’m pretty withdrawn and moody and easily irritated 

If you could do anything, literally anything, like fly on a unicorn or something, what would it be? 

Is it weird if it’d be something like,,, be cast on Stranger Things ??? like i think i fantasize about being on that show ten times a day, i just...... i really wanna be on Stranger Things gOD IMAGINE HOW AMAZING THAT WOULD BE 

What is the scale of the worst argument you’ve ever had? Slamming doors, raised voices, lots of crying...... fun times !!!

What is your favourite slush flavour? Not really into slushies tbh 

If you could bring back any food or drink from your childhood that has been discontinued, what would it be? DUNKAROOS ????? i feel like any snack from the 90s tho like we just don’t have anything as fun as what we had back then 

What is your favourite and most vivid childhood memory? Nothing specific but i remember playing outdoors with my siblings A LOT like we had a pretty big backyard so we’d constantly be out there, being imaginative and coming up with fake scenarios and acting them out, or like playing with the hose in the summertime or THE POOL omg we had this pool and we’d be in it so much...... also video game battles with my older brother ! my childhood was kinda shitty but at least i have those moments to reflect back on 

If you could bring anyone back from the dead who would it be? My first theatre teacher from high school... he passed away due to cancer around my sophomore year... he was really inspiring to me, i mean he’s kinda the reason why i stuck with that class and didn’t totally give up (thus resulting in me finding out that i love acting and that’s what i wanted to do with my life) 

If you could go back to any time period and live there for a week, which period would it be and why? GIVE ME THE 80′S OH MY GOD my mom grew up in the 80′s as a teenager so i always hear all the stories from her about what it was like and it seemed like ??? so cool ?? especially if you were a teen like what a dream ! give me my 80′s teen movie memories !!!

If you could visit any abandoned place to take pictures, where would it be?

Wow, this is actually a good question....... maybe like a retro arcade or art museum or amusement park ???? i feel like those could make for some Neat Photos (the aesthetic tho)

Do you have any particular, peculiar interests? Hmmmmm psychology interests me ?? i took a psychology class my junior year of high school and it was really fascinating, learning about human behavior and those stories of old psychology experiments (so Wild too like damn, i can’t believe they got away with so much shit back then)

Do you have a creepy/scary experience that has happened to you, and what was it? Not necessarily to me personally like, i’ve heard things before but idk to what extent that could mean so i never really looked Too Much into it bUT UHM i know my family has, especially in my childhood home (that place was straight up haunted like i swear) ALTHOUGHHHHH one night my mom was talking to us about something she saw in her room and all of a sudden a bunch of weird shit started going on in our apartment like our printer kept turning on and off and noises came from the kitchen like a cabinet shutting and things like that IT WAS CREEPY OK 

Do you like/read creepypasta stories? If so, what’s your favourite story? Don’t really have a favorite, but i have read creepypasta stories in the past before - they’re pretty intriguing ! (i’m a total wuss tho!!!! which is why i don’t read enough to have a personal favorite)

If you were in the Wars of the Roses, would you be a Lancastrian, or a Yorkist? Haven’t given this any thought before to decide so I DON’T KNOW !

What is your recurring nightmare? Don’t really have any ????? 

Have you ever had a lucid dream? Nah, because the moment i become aware i’m dreaming and i can do whatever i want, i wake up !!! it’s so frustrating lmao 

If you could go to another planet, which would it be? UHM i just really like the way Saturn looks lmao also Venus bc it sounds Nice but in terms of living conditions, i’m sure none of those are suitable  

What is your religion, if any? Don’t really have one !!!! (in the sense of actively practicing) although my mom is Jewish so i have always felt the most connected to that one 

Have you ever got so drunk, that you did something really embarrassing, and if so, what did you do? i’ve never gotten drunk before so lmao 

Mike, Dustin, Lucas, or Will? THIS IS ???? NOT FAIR ??? THEY’RE ALL MY SONS HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME CHOOSE JUST ONE but fine, i pick Mike just bc i feel the most related to him in the sense of personality traits 

Do you like Marina and the Diamonds? SURE ??? she’s got some good stuff 

Charli XCX? YAH SURE WHY NOT i like some of her stuff !!

Tag a blog that you’ve seen, and you love their posts, but have never told them, and would like to talk to them. @miliebobbybrown HER EDITS ARE ALWAYS SO ??? GOOD ???? her whole blog is total #goals just bc of how Nice everything is like wow i am,,, Intimidated but in the best way possible

Pick one thing you like/love from the 80s. The pop culture :^) (movies, music, fashion...... like wow, i just love it all so much)

What year were you born, and name something cool from that year. 1998 and Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets was published 

What was your blog name originally? (If you had another blog name) This one was originally lifeisdefinitelystrange (rip) 

Do you follow any blogs that you know the user in real life? KIND OF ?? I JUST MET @telekineticeggos FOR THE FIRST TIME IN REAL LIFE LAST NIGHT SO LMAO but we’re also planning on doing more things together in real life in the next few months so YEET 

If you are in the ST fandom, which is your favourite song off the ST soundtrack? Africa by Toto (duh), Atmosphere by Joy Division, Heroes by Peter Gabriel, and When It’s Cold I’d Like To Die by Moby (those last two songs were too emotionally impacting to not name) and from the score itself i LOVE KIDS THAT ONE IS SO GOOD TO ME LMAO but tbh i love the entire score and soundtrack ???? it’s so hard to pick just One Favorite

Finally, give your opinion on the person who tagged you! @finnxwheeler - YOUR WRITING NEVER FAILS TO AMAZE ME WOW ??? i’m always in tears over how flawless your fics are like Whiskey and Broken Hearts destroyed me my dude like oh my goddddd i love your characterization of Mike and Will in all your fics :’) one of my favorite byeler blogs ♡ (also you’re super cool in general like wow what a Neat Person)

@jewishstanuris - I LOVE TALKING TO YOU !!! you’re so nice to me and understanding when i take ten years to reply LMAO also your writing is also super good ??? you should do it more often tbh like i swear you don’t do it enough bc i remember only seeing a few things written by you on here in the fandom buT LIKE THEY WERE SO GOOD AND LIKE ???? DO MORE OF THAT MAYBE ??? another rlly good blog apart of the byeler ship ♡ :’) 

OK SO I’M GONNA TAG THESE GOOFS - @telekineticeggos, @dadharbour, @baileytsample, @elevenknope, @nessa007, @theamiableanachronism, @eggo-my-leggo, and @ghost-grantaire ♡ (obviously you don’t have to do it if you’re not interested or if you’ve done it already!)