#There’s a good chance I’ll post more about this ship at some point… who knows

[halastar05]

Fun fact: If Vince wasn’t canonically gay, this would 100% be my main Dead Plate ship. In fact I still do kinda ship it… Racheal did say that any reading of the game is valid when it comes to Vince’s sexuality.

Overall I do think I still ship Rody and Manon more than this (they just hit me different ok)

But yeah lord I love this, there’s such interesting potential here! I wanna see more of them as a poly. It’s also really fun to imagine how the game would play out, if Vince actually started caring for Manon more it would change everything. In fact you could also do a somewhat groundhog’s day/time loop au as well with Vincent and have this be endgame. Not to mention the dynamics of this trio are SO fun to explore. It would also probably serve as one of the easiest ways to redeem Vincent honestly.

Also one last thing…

I vote for their ship name to be “the platter poly”

Poly au!! Au where Manon married Vincent as a front and have Rody live with them masking Rody as their personal assistant/butler. In truth Rody is their beloved

[booksandabeer]

Ramblings on Fandom: Peggy Carter, Steve Rogers, Delusional Shippers, and Alleged Misogyny

So with the release of Season 2 of What If…? emotions are once again running high, the outrage is outraging, and people are up in arms about the whole Captain Carter situation. While I do think that some reactions are a little overblown, even needlessly aggressive in tone to the unfortunate detriment of their otherwise convincing arguments, I share the confusion and frustration about the sudden centering of a long-dead & never excessively popular character, the sidelining of the Steve-Bucky friendship, and the as-inexplicable-as-it-is-total exclusion of Sam Wilson as Captain America. However, I’m not here to talk about the show because (1) I haven’t watched this season and have no plans to (why waste time torturing myself with something I know I’ll hate?) and (2) other people have already written dozens of metas about it, so what could I possibly add at this point.

What I do want need to talk about (lest I explode) is something that has irritated me for a long time and that is now happening again: Every time someone even mildly criticizes Peggy Carter, expresses doubts about her suitability as a heroine, or even just questions her disproportionate importance to the franchise post-EG, inevitably a certain section of fans will come out of the woodwork to immediately throw around accusations of misogyny and yell about how we’re all just a bunch of delusional Stuckies who are mad that she got "in the way" of our ship. Sigh.

This is gonna be a long one, so I’ll put it under a cut. Rant incoming. You've been warned. If you don't want to read, simply keep scrolling.

First of all, let me state very clearly that I’m not debating the existence of misogyny and sexism in fandom spaces—or in the media from which these fandoms originate. At all. It exists, it’s a thing, I’m not denying that. Which is exactly why it frustrates me endlessly to see these accusations thrown around as a gotcha! argument to shut down any and all critical debate around a female character. All it does in the end is escalate rhetoric and radicalize attitudes.  

In the case of Peggy Carter, specifically her treatment by Stucky shippers, I’ve always found 'misogyny as a motive' to be a largely unsubstantiated accusation.¹ Now, I neither presume nor do I want to speak for the entirety of Stuckynation, so I will not claim that there aren't corners of the fandom where people discuss her in ways that I find off-putting and deeply unserious, but I will say this: If you genuinely believe that disliking one (1) fictional female character equals “hating all women” and wanting to suppress and marginalize their presence in fiction and real life alike—then I think we need to take that word away from you until you’ve learned its true meaning.

You might also want to ask yourself how exactly reducing a female character to a mute trophy wife or a heroine who has to act out her love interest’s recycled storylines helps your feminist fight.

As for the “getting in the way of your ship” part of the argument. Very simply put: No character can get in the way of something if there never ever was “a way” to that something to begin with. “Being mad” implies that there was a reasonable expectation that wasn’t met, a substantive hope that was crushed. Now, I’ve said this before and I’ll gladly say it again a million more times: No Stucky shipper in their right mind ever truly thought that there was even the slightest chance that Marvel Studios owned by the Walt Disney Company would allow Steve “Captain America” Rogers and Bucky “Winter Soldier” Barnes to be canonized as an explicitly romantic pairing in their billion dollar franchise. Be serious. That was never in the cards. I wish we all lived in a world where it was, but we don’t, and it wasn’t. The best we could ever hope for was for Steve and Bucky to get a good, satisfying, in-character ending. And if, in Steve’s case, that would’ve included hints (or more) about a possible rekindling of his, uh, aborted romance with Sharon—then so be it. But we never got any of that. The characters never got any of that. Instead they sent Steve into 1950s suburban hell, literally trapped him behind a white picket fence, and condemned him to a life of passivity and lies, all so he could be married to a woman he barely knew a long time ago in a completely different world; who built and ran a top-to-bottom Hydra-infested organization, but apparently never noticed that there was anything wrong with her life's work. For decades. Great. As for Bucky—well, we’ve all seen the devastatingly grim-faced, utterly lonely, and deeply sad version of him that was presented to us in TFATWS. Happy endings all around, I guess.

So. Am I mad that Steve didn’t get to ride into the rainbow-colored sunset with Bucky at the end of EG? No. Because that was never going to happen anyway. Would I have been mad had he ended up with Sharon or another female character in the 21st century? Also no. Granted, I wouldn’t have been ecstatic about it, but mad? No. But am I mad that Steve ended up with this specific female character under these specific circumstances as presented in canon? Fuck yeah, I am.

The thing is: I personally believe Steve and Peggy to be fundamentally incompatible when it comes to the way they view the world and their respective places in it; their morals and values; their capacity for compassion and empathy; their ability and willingness to compartmentalize, compromise, and collaborate with people and institutions whose ethics and/or politics do not align with their own. I have a real hard time believing that a relationship between these two (or worse, a hasty marriage) could be either happy or long-lasting.

I don’t believe Peggy to be inherently evil, I don’t hate her, I simply think she operates within a different moral framework than Steve (and even genuinely believes it to be a righteous one).² Your mileage may vary, but I personally happen to find that framework reprehensible, even indecent, and ultimately dangerous. After all, over the course of the 20th century, we have seen exactly where that kind of “the ends justify the means” brand of pragmatism leads—over and over again. Not to mention that the people who use this line of argument to defend characters like Peggy (or real-life politicians for that matter) never seem to want to look too closely at who gets to define what "the ends" are in the first place and who decides when they've finally been met.

(Never. The answer is never.)

And to be clear, there is absolutely nothing wrong with depicting, and even centering a narrative around a morally (dark)gray character—oftentimes it’s actually the more interesting option—but you cannot at the same time claim that they are purely good and should be only admired as such when their actions literally tell an entirely different story.

So, no. I will not accept Peggy Carter as the shining aspirational heroine that the MCU so badly wants to sell her to me as—while simultaneously continuing to reveal things that paint an increasingly darker picture of her character. And I will certainly not celebrate seeing one of my favorite characters of all time—whose defining trait was that he couldn't ignore "a situation pointed south"; who used to fight for the little guy and against the establishment; who once said about the very organization that Peggy Carter helped build that it was so corrupt, it all needed to go—rendered morally inert for some hollow happy ending that may as well be a conservative’s wet dream full of false nostalgia for an America that never really existed. I cannot find it in me to be anything less but mad about that.

But that does not make me a misogynist. It does not make me a delusional shipper. It makes me someone who looks at what the MCU has been telling me about Peggy Carter for years now—over and over again—and takes it at its own word.

--------

¹ If you’ve actually read a a fair number of Stucky(!) fanfics you will have noticed that the reverence afforded to and "page time" devoted to her character and her relationship with Steve is somewhat disproportionate to anything that's backed up by canon—well, up until EG, where she was suddenly reanimated as The Great Love of Steve’s Life—and in my experience, it's highly unusual for any fandom to put so much (mostly) positive attention on another character, let alone a potential love interest that is not part of the endgame ship.

² I also want to emphasize that if you love Peggy and she's your fave: good for you! I genuinely have no beef with you. People can agree to disagree. All I ask for is that we maybe stop willfully ignoring the less savory aspects of her character. You don't need to pretend she's perfect to justify your affection for her. I LOVE Steve, and yet I have no problem conceding that he is FAR from perfect.

[shittalkcornstalk]

“Take One For The Team”

Synopsis- After finding out your Captain has been giving you special treatment, your friends convince you to flirt your way into getting the crew some much needed time off.

Warnings- xfemreader! , Use of Y/n, 18+ minor dni, Eventual Smut, mild manipulation on your part, alcohol use, weapons mention, age gap mention, Buggy is kind of creepy just a little

Word Count 2.4k

Author’s Note - Hi! As you might notice this is my first post! It’s also my first time sharing something I’ve written before , but something about that clown awoken something in me :) Let me know if there’s anything I missed tags or warning wise! I have two more chapters done that I’ll release if everything works out.

Chapter One “A Test Run”

You’d been sailing along Buggy’s crew for the last 6 months, helping in raids and preparing for the grandline. After some incidents with an up and comer Buggy had been much less inclined to leave anything up to chance. Now running the ship with the aid of Alvida and hiring on more freaks to service his mission, his goal of the one piece was set in motion, and very little was going to stop this determination.

At first you weren't a particularly skilled fighter, but you could do a bit of maintenance around the ship, and were willing to train at your weak points. When you first joined you were worried about your position as the only other woman on the crew besides Alvida Being surrounded by a considerable amount of dangerous men had you a bit on edge, but Cabaji had made arrangements for you in a small closet converted into private quarters within your first week on the ship. At least that's who you thought made that happen. Throughout these last months you found yourself rising in ranks rather quickly. You’d been gaining some talents in hand to hand combat thanks to training, but making good friends of Cabaji and Moji had you sitting with the upper ranks of the crew sooner than you’d anticipated. And with that you noticed an increase in the quality of life. It was small, but the bathing supplies you were allotted became higher quality, they softened your hair and gave it a warm sweet smell. The food had gotten better, with larger portions. You hadn’t a clue what was happening beyond maybe who’d you been associating with. You seemed to have some power in play but you didn't know why. Until on night while you were out drinking with friends.

It has been a rather torturous day for you and your crew. Buggy had started an aggressive training regiment that left all of you tired and sore. You saw him watch over all of you, barking orders and sneering at anyone who tried to wimp out. You caught his eyes following you as you lunged forward punching the air, practicing your swings. He smirked at you before shifting his gaze elsewhere.

“Train harder! If you ever want to see your captain become king of the pirates you must work till you bleed!” He laughed at the sight of everyone.

God, it sucked. Your arms were aching and you started to really dislike the guy for his cruelty. You grasp at the cold mug of beer in front of you, chugging it down to cool yourself after today's workout. Cabaji and Moji are also exhausted relishing in their own self pity and pain.

“He’s such a tight wad right now. God will he just let up this act for one second? He’s been working us to the bone-“

“Hey, at least you get special treatment, think about how the rest of us are suffering” Moji groans out

You take a second to process what he said. What special treatment? You’d assume at least Buggy’s two right hand men were also getting some benefits.

“What do you mean by special treatment?” You look at them confused.

Moji puffs and takes a swig of his drink. “The fancy smelling soaps, the private room, hell you get almost twice the meat either of us get at meal time- you think we're all getting that? Have you seen the rooms, have you smelt us? You know you've been given special attention this entire time right? We thought you knew?” He points to Cabaji who nods in agreement.

“Yeah and they way you just so happened to go from cannon fodder to the captain’s table in a matter of weeks? We’re friends, don’t get that wrong, but our friendship only got you so far y/n. There were other things getting you to the table that quickly…”

They were both insinuating something, dancing around the elephant in the room, and you wanted to know what it was.

“Why though?”

“Please, you’ve got to be blind to not notice it. He watches you train a little too attentively, his eyes follow you around while you work. He made sure you were right by him at meal times. You're in a private room for ‘your safekeeping’. You get nicer clothes, you get extra beauty sleep , you get extended bathing hours. The captain got it bad- and you’ve never even clocked it?”

You stammered, your brain gets fuzzy. Captain Buggy has been giving you special treatment because he's got a thing for you. You feel a weight in your stomach as you consider all the things lining up in your head. He does look at you funny, in fact he’s looked at you that way since day one of recruitment. Did he hire you for that alone? Did you like him? Not really… He was a good captain until recently but now all you can think about is how hard he's been working you all. As far as you're concerned, whatever Buggy had wanted from you, wasn't gonna happen.

“Oh my god, how did I not notice it- I feel so stupid…” You groan, chugging the rest of your beer. “This entire time, he only had me on the crew to woo me-“ You stick out your tongue and lay your head on the table in defeat.

“Well now that you know, Moji and I have been talking and we think we can use this information to our advantage. Lighten our work load a bit-“

“And what do you mean by that?” You ask imparitively.

“Well here’s the thing now that you know the captain is putty in your hands, let's use that, c'mon take one for the team-“

“AND WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT!”

“Nothing crazy, but the captain has been in such a terrible mood lately and it's causing all of us to suffer- maybe if the girl he likes was a bit nicer, complimented him a bit more, played with her hair, other girly shit. He’d distracted enough to forget he's a total asshole.”

“yeah y/n its not like you have to sleep with him.” Moji motions with his hands in a comical way. “Just use some of that charm and get us a little more time off” he laughs into his drink. If you all hadn’t been so close and also a little drunk you’d punch both of them, you still kinda wanted to punch them…

“You guys are gross. That’ll never work. You are seriously overestimating this ‘feminine charm’ and crush shit, I’m sure captain would looooovvvee to hear how low you think of him right now-“

“No come on, give it a chance, tomorrow all you have to do is smile at him a little more, laugh at jokes-and and…” Cabaji thinks for a second…

“Touch his shoulder!” Moji finishes, “Then I bet he’ll let up! You’ll see! Just try it, our situation isn’t gonna get any worse if it doesn’t work…”

Moji and Cabaji jokingly give you puppy dog eyes and pout “Please for your best friends~”

“Ugh fine, but you owe me, both of you are taking over my chores for a week after tomorrow-“

“Deal!” They say in unison snickering to themselves.

The next day comes and it's time for you to embarrass yourself in front of everyone it seems. You take note to take a little extra time to get ready, nothing crazy , but looking disheveled isn't gonna help the plan. You make your way to the dock for training when you see Buggy, Cabaji, and Moji taking. Your two friends spot you first giving a wink and a smile and they say goodbye to the captain leaving you alone as you approach him. You take a deep breath and step forward.

“Good morning Captain Buggy~”

You try to be a little more melodic in the way you say his name, though it doesn't quite roll off your tongue that well. Buggy certainly didn’t notice that though cause he was already a little jumpy at your more aggressive approach. He blushes a bit and stifles a cough.

“G-Good morning Y/n, what brings you here this morning, shouldn’t you start training?” He's trying to keep cool, but now that you are well aware of his feelings you know he's bluffing. You can’t believe it but this might actually work.

“Is it so -bad- I wanted to greet my captain this morning?” God you are deluding yourself, but you do a tiny pout and the look on this man's face shifts. He's a mess and you have control.

“NOT AT ALL-“ He starts waving his hands. “I’m just not used to you being so…um…cordial-“ He giggles a bit to himself. Cordial was not the word he wanted to say and you knew it. You shift your eyes over to the two idiots watching the spectacle. They mock you with kissy faces, and like a lightbulb going off in one of their pea sized brains, they mimic the shoulder touch you agreed to. With a quick breath you look at Captain Buggy directly in the eye, batting your lashes, and curling your lips to talk.

“Captain Buggy?~” You let his name sit for a minute. He looks back at you, gulps, and waits.

“Yes?”

You take your hand lightly touching his bicep and softly rubbing it up to his shoulder. He jolts ever so slightly under your touch.

“I was just wondering what today's regiment was? We’re all so tired from yesterday's workout, and while we…I want to make sure we can serve you to the best of our abilities. I was wondering when our next rest day was?”

He gulps again, heavier, as if this man had swallowed a rock. He coughs to alleviate some of the tension in the air. And though you don’t fully know it yet he thinks he’s found his in to sweeten you up to him a bit. After all a girl like you does deserve a break, but if he only gives you a day off he’ll expose himself to everyone. He's gotta play it cool, still fulfilling your wishes but make it seem like he's in control.

“Why you happened to ask me on the perfect day doll-“ A nickname he’d never confronted you with before, but with his ego inflated he thought he'd slip that in “I was just about to tell the entire crew that all training was going to be canceled today” He moved his body to the crew to announce it but keeps his eyes on you expectely. “Proceed with normal chores, but today will be light work for all-'' He smiled at how great this plan is. Surely you’d start seeing him in better lighting with this generous offer.

Cabaji and Moji are celebrating by themselves at their hiding spot. Hi fiving each other and shooting you thumbs up. You look back at your captain, fully unaware that you’d scemed this outcome. You were suprised it worked this well, but this outcome made it seem like this was a much easier feat than you were expecting. You’d be able to get a lot more with very little it seems. And now that Cabaji and Moji have taken up your chores for the week, no training and no chores meant a full day of rest and relaxation for you. You could really get used to this. You smile to yourself, but Buggy, who really hasn't kept his eyes off of you this entire time, takes it as a compliment.

“ Take some of that much needed rest y/n, you deserve for how hard you work. After all, it's like you said you need energy to serve your captain.”

You shudder in your head at the implications of that last statement before grinning past the grimace on your face and leaving with a sweet plasticy “Thank you Captain Buggy-“ He waves you off, and you can definitely see his gaze linger on your ass.

“Gross…” You think to yourself.

Later that night you and the two others relish in a successful mission.

“It fucking worked!” Cabaji yelled clinking glasses with yours.

“It fucking worked…” You stare blankly groanin to yourself in self deprecation.

“Aw c'mon think about it we’d probably get a whole week off if you just sucked his d-“

You smack him before he can even finish the thought. You weren’t gonna become some toy just to get a bit more vacation time. You wouldn’t mind having the weekends off though, especially when you were docked in new cities. You could go shopping more, maybe go to the markets, try the spas… You could embarrass yourself a little if it meant that maybe…

“Listen I’ll agree it worked better than expected but we can’t jump to conclusions and say this’ll work all the time. Chances are this was a one time thing. Captain Buggy may not be the epitome of self restraint and class, but he’s not stupid-“

He’s stupid. Sure every day didn’t immediately become a luxury cruise in paradise but you'll be damned if your little giggles and hair flips didn't lighten the load for everyone around you. The captain was happier, calmer, and now that he was convinced he started hooking you in, he didn't take out a lot of that repressed anger he’d built up on the crew. It was smooth sailing for the most part. You’d say hello to him in the mornings, goodnight to him before leaving for your own quarters. You’d refer to him with full title as Captain Buggy, enunciate the words in a way he found irresistible, and of course Mojis patent pending ‘shoulder touch’. He swears you need to bottle and sell it. He was putty off this little attention you gave him, and for how little it was, you'd oblige to give it to him. You wonder if anyone had picked up on it, but you probably would have been mocked to hell for it, if anyone actually knew. So in secrecy you kept up this little crush act for as long as it could run.

[stonedragonisnthere]

HHN icon headcanons!!!

(Part 1)

Blue - Unserious hc

Red - Serious hc

(These are not related to shipping or ships but are rather personality/lore traits I’m assigning each character. These hcs also do not mind canon much. )

~~🤡🎁~~

• believe it or not, Jack is one of the best people to go to for dating advice! He knows how to control a massive crime gang and how to get and keep bitches!

• Jack is polysexual + Panromantic

• Jack and Eddie are mixed (American + Singaporean). Their parents weren’t married when Eddie and Jack were born and their father left their mother

• Jack sort of picked up certain eating habits from Dr.Oddfellow, however he does have some knowledge on cooking basic meals, think of those four ingredient “lazy mom” recipes you’d see on TikTok from time to time.

• Jack does care about his brother, he doesn’t bring it up much but has offered help to Eddie in the past

• Jack has ADHD but has found ways to help him focus on certain things

• Jack has been seen without his clown makeup by the icons so rarely that when he did, the icons tried to kill him because they thought he was a victim Adaru put in the lantern.

• Jack and Chance are both insane clown posse enjoyers

• Jack is more than willing to shoot Chance and anyone else he likes out of a canon (it’s his way of affection/very lh)

~~✂️🎩~~

•Albert Caine had brown hair when he was younger

• Albert’s way larger underneath his professional wear. After a day at work it’s a relief taking off his corset and relaxing for the night.

•Albert’s wife who he had Cindy with passed away after she was born. He chose not to date after and focused on his morgue and raising his daughter.

•He is one of the more polite icons, he is willing to talk in interrogations or explain what the icons are to people (Mostly his murder victims before their death)

• Albert secretly enjoys the carebears, his favorite care bear is Take Care Bear.

• Jack and Albert are fishing buddies

~~🎥🕷️~~

• Paulo is surprisingly durable for being only a guy, he’s survived everything from snake bites to full on getting blown up. However he does have stitches through out his whole body.

• He is very much a film snob, Definitely a gatekeeper on how much of a horror fan someone is but doesn’t move the goal point much, he’ll respect you if you say certain movies are good

• Paulo has OCD, and even through his trashy workspace, he has all of his filming equipment in specific areas made for each tool and accessory he uses and does get angry at the other icons whenever someone places something of his in the wrong place

• Billy Skorrski was one of his 6 to 7 fake IDs he has used while in Singapore

• The most Paulo is able to cook is some cup noodles and a monster energy as a drink. Whenever anybody does cook for him he wolfs his plate down then goes back to whatever he’s working on for that day.

• Paulo believes himself to be an “Alpha male” and Jack dogs on him for his beliefs

•He also gets into fights with people on subreddits

~~📖🔪~~

• Elsa is the walking Swiss Army knife of the group. She always seems to have some tool or weapon useful to the situation happening to the icons.

• Some of her favorite books are Grim’s fairytales and murder mysteries, Elsa does like when the murderer gets away in them though :)

• Her and Julian hang out from time to time. (Elsa likes the old timey movies the palace theatre plays and Julian sometimes sits down with Elsa for some tea and to listen to music)

• Elsa is a lesbian but has no interest for anyone in the lantern.

• She is willing to read tamer books depending on who’s asking (She reads to Cindy sometimes when she needs to go to bed)

• Elsa despises Dr.Oddfellow just as much as Jack does. She has her own beef with Fellow that I’ll get into in another post

• Elsa would make a booktok person bite the curb

• Nobody knows what she does with her victims tongues

[aeonophagic]

I wanted to look at the boothill tag and somehow came across voidhill which has very much piqued my interest 👁👁

Can I pleaaaaaaaaase have an explanation bc this voidhill thing now has me on a chokehold 🙏🙏

Yayyy I’m glad you’re interested in them!!! They mean a lot to me… I’m happy to answer any and all questions

So if this means you don’t know who VA is (apologies if I’m assuming), I’ll say they’re a HI3 character with HSR cameos who’s most likely around there somewhere. I treat them as my OC by this point though so that’s not really all that relevant. They’re a supercomputer in a human body, their purpose is archiving humanity’s knowledge. As an archive, they remember everything they’ve learnt in perfect detail, which aid their powers that allow them to recreate things they’ve learnt the composition of.

To put it shortly: I made it up as a crack ship but I ended up making an entire story for them. Cyborg who surpassed his body’s human limits, Supercomputer who keeps trying to make their human body surpass its human limits. They both have their particular relationships with their humanity, or lack of.

To put it unfiltered, here’s how I put it last month. Some little things I’d change now, but this is a good idea of it still:

(Transcript of the first paragraph is in ALT text. It won’t let me add the others)

It’s kind of about them both conditioning each other to change. Void Archives becomes more interested in relationships and intimacy, more willing to participate in them; Boothill realises he’s really into this freak apparently.

My friend wrote the dialogue for this comic a few months ago that describes how they experience their attraction for each other basically:

I need to reformat this into a vertical comic real bad

Boothill is the first cyborg’ed human they get to meet so personally so they’re particularly interested in him. Their possessiveness doesn’t come from a place of “we’re in a relationship, so you’re mine”—they’re not really in a relationship, it’s complicated—but “I know more than anyone, I remember every nook and cranny, so I am objectively the best qualified one to handle modifying/repairing your body”. Here’s a little doodle I haven’t posted here yet of them doing exactly that

They’re very focused on the task at hand!

This is a basic rundown of their dynamic, I won’t delve too much into their story unless you’re interested in hearing that too. I really appreciate you asking. I usually express myself through my drawings and comics without saying much else about them, so thank you for giving me the chance to ramble a bit about them :)

[mseirtaku]

Me watching travesty that was Kung Fu Panda 4.

Under 'read more', I have my full (unsolicited) thoughts on the fourth film - warning, I don't have much good to say about it 〔´∇｀〕;;

SPOILERS! + LONG ASS POST!

So... I'll start with the positives, because honestly, I do love aspects of this movie.

Any scenes featuring Li and Mr. Ping are the absolute highlights of this film. Love them, ship them, hilarious chemistry between them. I'd watch a whole film dedicated to just them.

Though not as funny as the previous films, it’s genuinely funny, like, some jokes are deadass hilarious. (See above for example lol)

Genuinely, the main villainess, the chameleon, has such a cool design and Viola Davis provides such a good voice for her. The animation whenever she transforms is so cool.

Jack Black as Po is just so charming, you can't help but find Po so likeable.

For what little we saw of Tai Lung, he was a treat to see.

Great animation, lovely scenery, love the little animation flairs during the action scenes

Alright, now time for the negatives... Which unfortunately there is a lot of. I’ll go step by step and build up to the bigger picture I’m trying to visualise here.

The Kung Fu Panda

Po’s character arc was pretty much complete at the end of KFP3, when he has his epiphany and finds that his true self lies in not restricting himself to one label, but by embracing everything that makes him Po. His identity by this point is very well realised. Unfortunately in KFP4, the tacked on conflict of him needing to retire the Dragon Warrior title and choose a successor just… Doesn’t make sense for his character at this point. Not to mention, the movie repeats a joke ad nauseam where no one knows who Po is, or of his adventures, jokingly chalking it down to a ‘regional’ tale. You’d think the literal saviour of China would be well known. The world-building feels so much smaller for it. Unfortunately, this movie is very determined to undermine the impact of the last three movies, all to prop up the wisecracking and super cool shitass Awkafina character. Sorry, not sorry, but Zhen is a terrible character just for that reason alone. If Kung Fu Panda wanted to pass the torch down, Tigress or even Tai Lung would have been a much more compelling option, seeing as both were telegraphed to be potential Dragon Warriors in the past. Speaking of…

Tai Lung

Man… The trailers got my hopes up that KFP4 would feature a long awaited redemption arc for the OG villain of the KFP films. Instead, he’s delegated to a cage for half his scenes, and received the barest minimum of character arcs in the finale. Granted, he was still entertaining to watch, but he was totally under-utilised.

To continue the topic of identity, the film missed the chance to ask this: “Who is Tai Lung without his kung fu?” All his life he’d been raised with huge aspirations to become the best kung fu master, and to eventually gain the dragon scroll (which he was denied.) In KFP4, the chameleon summons him from the spirit realm, and drains him of all his kung fu skill. Therein lies the missed opportunity for a compelling character arc, now that he’s been cast out as a supposedly useless body into the real world. And who better to help him figure out his identity other than Po himself?

I could go on forever about the various fanficy rewrites and plot ideas, but I don’t want to let this get any longer. So I’ll talk about one more topic.

The Chameleon

I love her design, I love her voice acting, but compared to Tai Lung, Lord Shen and even General Kai… She’s simply a weak villain. (Too small to learn kung fu… Really?? With characters like Mantis and Viper who deadass exist in the same franchise???)

‘I’m the Chameleon! I do nothing but change!’ holds such potential for a far more interesting backstory. Instead of being rejected for her size, suppose that it was seen by many king fu masters that she simply didn’t possess a true spirit of a kung fu warrior. As explained in this film, their abilities are harnessed in the spirit/soul, not just the physical body. Perhaps she didn’t want to work for those abilities properly. She wanted the easy way forwards. She didn’t want to put in the proper time and effort to become a master of the craft. Spurred on by what she sees as rejection, she learns sorcery to take on any number of identities of kung fu masters. So many identities she could use to fool herself into believing she was someone talented and gifted in the art of kung fu. But it’s only a lie she tells herself. And so, she takes the drastic action, and decides to start summoning these masters from the spirit realm. But even as she slowly grows in power through the course of this film, maybe a strong sense of imposter syndrome starts to set in. These powers aren’t truly hers - what value does a carbon copy of something original have? Nothing. She never properly worked for them and made them her own.

Anyways. I’m almost done writing.

Quick fire round of criticism;

Akwafina’s shitass character

Furious five just tossed aside except for a non speaking cameo. Tigress got done so dirty - if there are gonna be like three more films, they should have been about her

WHAT DID THEY DO TO LORD SHEN’S CHARACTER MODEL

The goofy-ass way he was attacked and then thrown into the cage, the disrespect lol

Li (the victim) and Lord Shen (the genocidal maniac who destroyed his village and killed his wife) somehow existed in the same space and did not get into a conflict.

Why does Kai still exist in the spirit realm? I thought he was literally skadooshed to be extra double dead lol. Like spirit literally eradicated

Akwafina’s shitass character

The villains bowing to Po feels super unearned given how under-utilised they were. I can see it working, just not in the plot we got in the end

Po’s character feels weirdly dumbed down, it’s hard to put my finger on it

Fart joke :(

The innocent and cute but secretly psycho baby bunnies are the definition of anti humour. They’re so fucking obnoxious and cringey

For some reason, the character designs of new characters feels super incongruous and out of place.

The Dragon Warrior isn’t an inherited title, it was given during a time where China needed a hero. Why does it need to be passed down?

A��̺͚̮̘̏̔̌̇̋͛̀́́̒̉̅̐ķ̶̲͍̘̖͈̭̮̝̩͐̃̎̕w̴̙̖̫̿̿͜a̸̧̠͎̰̲̠̮͇̰̼̱͂̋̃̇̑̍̊̂̎̾̓͝f̶̛̼͓̱͖̖̭͓͍͚͋͛̍ḯ̶͕̈́͛̀̎̆͛n̶͖͓̻̉̆̎́͆̌͌͂̾̉̚a̷̡̻̟̟͍̳̙̰͔̬̜̐̏̾̍̊̎́͂͊͝’̷̢̢̭̬̹̪̟̰̣́̈́̌̈̑̄̔͗̓̃̄̐s̶̡̹̙̖̲̝͎̳͔̍͑́ ̷̢̤̈͊͛̚s̸͓̪̠̼̪̤͈̜̎ȟ̵͇̥͈̟͖͈̣̞͚̘̩͍̓̅̀͐͗͛̏̉̀̒͘͜i̸̛̦͕̖̙̲͔̗̙̘̥̣̰̖͖̭̓̄͂̋́̍̓̃͘t̴̯̯̔̑̈̽̇̋̈́͌͛á̴̡͍͓͎͍͈̖͖͎̼̀́̅̿͌̂̌̆͠s̷̢̳̙̦̯̥̮͕͍̃̃͑̂̎̑̍̀͒̊͘̚͝͠͠s̴̪͖̼͈͂̏̚ͅ ̶͕̺̟̙̲͓̘̟̠͇̩̖̠̦̫̄̅̋̓̈́̓̆͋͝͝c̴͕̤̮̎̿̎͐̀̐̊̆̓̍̾̈́͠h̵̛̝̑̋̎̃̈́̆͋͒̅͊́͑͠͝a̷̡̹͍̳̘̪̰̰̤̼̎̄̈́̚ͅŗ̷̝̲͚̻͚̮͕̳̙̭̻̄͆̇̐̄̐͂͘a̴̡̢̯̩͓͓͂̄͑͗́́͂͠͠c̸̨̺̖̪̙͖̯̟̠͙͐́͊̾̅̎̏͠͝t̸̛̗̣̳̠̯͎̫͔̣̱̞̂̅͑̀̈̄͋̈́̆͘͝e̸̢͎͙̻̩̦̹̜̩̦̖̫͍͂́̌ͅr̵̨̄̅͐̍̏̅̀̃́̇̇̅̕͝

That’s all I have really. Sorry for straying so much into fanfiction territory, but it’s an integral part of my criticisms. I could honestly write forever, but I mainly wanted to share this silly redraw of the Tai Lung meme using Lobster and I’s silly Kung Fu Panda Hetalia gijinka crossover AU nonsense lol

If you read this all the way to the end, congrats! And sorry - I never do long text posts like this lol

[ryuichirou]

Replies

Some replies, mostly about yesterday’s posts: Lilidia kiss and Aether portrait.

Anonymous asked:

It finally happened. Someone accused me of being a creep just cause I said we shouldn’t spend too much time moralizing over cartoon characters and that we literally have scientific evidence to say so. I’m the one with the oc that I’m shipping with ortho with the open minded mom. It’s time to start posting the most cute and wholesome ship art on main.

-💜🌹

💜🌹Anon, it’s great that you are expressing your opinion honestly, and I am very sorry that you are getting called a creep for that. Unfortunately, the “you’re creep” type of people don’t usually listen to reason because accepting that you’re right would mean that they can’t bully people for no reason anymore.

I hope you don’t feel discouraged by that experience though, and I hope they won’t ruin your desire to draw and post whatever you want. If you want to post cute and wholesome stuff, that’s good, but it sucks when it happens simply because it feels too dangerous to post anything even remotely spicy… Even if you did things in an extremely subtle way or even if you did anything else, they’d still find reasons simply because they might find you suspicious or other bs reason like that. Every single one of their argument is just an excuse for them to feel justified about harassing, that’s why it doesn’t even matter what you like – as soon as you show interest in anything slightly different than a bland creation of family-friendly nothingness, they’ll be here.

Take care of yourself, but also, don’t be too scared of them: there are much more people who openly like Ortho these days, I think.

Anonymous asked:

For a moment I was super excited thinking you had gotten in to genshin. But its still nice to see aether in your style. And I may be wrong but I feel you might like dottore

Sorry, Anon, unfortunately I don’t think I’ll ever get into Genshin… but this 6+ portraits thingie is a nice chance to draw some of the characters! And I am very happy that you’re happy to see Aether drawn by me <3

There are still a lot of characters for me to draw from that list, and while I don’t know when exactly I’m going to draw the next Genshin character, here are some other names from the list: Freminet, Neuvillette, Arlecchino, Scaramouche, Pantalone, Baizhu, Furina, Lyney. Quite a lot of names… One day I’ll draw them all.

Also I do agree that if we ever got into Genshin, we would’ve loved Dottore. He has certain vibes… bad ones, in a good way.

Anonymous asked:

GENSHIN ART RAHHHH! Also Lilia's undercut looks clean. Imma need his barber's number

Hehe enjoy!

I think Lilia himself is Lilia’s barber… which honestly makes his cut even more impressive!

Anonymous asked:

Did you know Traveler legit has a harem in Genshin Impact? As in, every person in every nation is falling for them. Twinks, men, girls, and everything in between. My favorite is Childe x Traveler because he's a sadist, a masochist, and I like freaks.

Well I know nothing about Genshin because I’m not really into it, but I figured that the main character is always the most popular guy/girl in the series… such chick magnets! (the guys are also the chicks, btw)

thestar-eyedfictionaddict asked:

Aether in your drawing: *exists*

Every living thing in Tevyat: *hands over their credit cards.*

The rich ones pay you the most to make NSFW art of the Traveler.

Meanwhile, Paimon's using all that money to get food.

Oh god, so many new customers, and I have no idea what’s going on. Thank you, every living thing in Tevyat, especially the rich ones 😭 Paimon shouldn’t steal my money though, or I’ll make her into food.  

thestarlightfae asked:

How are you feeling about his official forehead reveal?

Hmmmm. Whose? 🤔 I am not sure.

If it’s about Lilia, then well, Idia is the only one who got to see it lol

thestarlightfae asked:

Also! Love the Zero to Hero ref!

Anonymous asked:

it's not really the main point of the drawing but damn cool shirt design

clever

Hehehe thank you!! <3

I am very happy you liked it! I always want to put something fun on the character’s shirt when I draw, and every once in a while it actually looks fun.

Should I make it into an actual print…

[seventeenlovesthree]

Digi Dynamic Shipping Game

Send me two names among the following 12 and I’ll write a short analysis post about them:

Taichi Yagami | Yamato Ishida | Sora Takenouchi | Koushirou Izumi | Mimi Tachikawa | Jyou Kidou | Takeru Takaishi | Hikari Yagami | Daisuke Motomiya | Miyako Inoue | Iori Hida | Ken Ichijouji

Whether canon provides input on them or not.

Look, I've made the poll about these ship analysis posts in February 2024. And even though I had already seen The Beginning at this point, I am still entirely grateful that I took that long to get to this analysis, because I wouldn't have been able to take a screenshot like this. This is the first time that, through the course of me writing Digimon relationship meta, we got a significant boost towards a ship from official sources - and, dare I say it, they actually did a good job this time in my opinion?

But let's start at the beginning, shall we: Through the course of 02, Miyako's stance towards Ken changes drastically. At first, we see her gushing and swooning about him being that "smart and attractive" boy that is all over the media, as she is very prone to crushing on various people at the time. Then, upon finding out that Ken is the Digimon Kaiser, her view obviously changes to 180° - she curses him, gets, understandably, very heated up about the whole issue... And even when he tries to redeem himself after everything he has done, she is among those who struggle to accept him the most. She is torn, overthinks the whole situation a lot - but after seeing his actions and through the course of getting more chances to interact with him (and Hikari too), she grows more understanding, accepting. She still struggles to interact, awkwardly trying to engage in conversation, even though she may not feel very capable to do so - but as mentioned, she is actually trying and starts to discover more and more of his good sides.

Ken on the other hand, prior to his redemption arc, didn't really notice Miyako before - and only starts doing so while trying to repent for all his sins. He is often seen taken aback by her brash, loud attitude, unable to really respond to her, but, just like with the rest of the group, he is relieved to see her slowly but steadily accepting him.

As I haven't consistently watched 02 back to back for a while, I may have forgotten one or two scenes between them, but the overall verdict here AND up until Kizuna's events is: They are on good, friendly terms. We always knew more about Miyako's stance towards Ken than about Ken's stance towards Miyako - and yet, a good chunk of people, me included, still found themselves BAFFLED when 02's epilogue told us that these two eventually got married with three kids.

While it didn't feel completely out of place - we did know about Miyako's rollercoaster of feelings and her tendency to crush on people, including Ken, so there was some kind of subtext after all -, for the longest time, it didn't feel like the most plausible outcome after all this time. (Especially because one may argue that 02 used to push different relationships much harder, especially in regards to Ken's focus on Daisuke and Miyako's focus on Hikari. However, you gotta take that with a huge grain of salt, because Jogress compatibility was never meant to be equal to romantic compatibility.)

Digimon always had its fair share of problems with canon romantic relationship portrayal. There are certain ship teases and crushes that never went anywhere, there are official (or semi-official) relationships that didn't appear plausible... And then they decided to do something about Ken and Miyako.

In November 2023, The Beginning aired - and I don't exaggerate when I say that people who did ship Kenyako/Miyaken before absolutely rejoiced. And for absolutely valid reasons! Unlike before, the creators managed to capture the spirit of how 02 handled these two before - and it actually portrayed them in a believable way after all these years, while leaving them and the audience enough room to breathe. As pointed out in the post above (and in this one here), it wasn't exactly subtle, but it was still tastefully done without exactly hitting you on the head. What's the set-up, you may ask?

Through the course of the movie, Miyako is focused on Ken; to get his attention, to respond to what he is saying, to encourage him when he falters - and to actively flirt with him by the end of it. The girl who had such a hard time sorting out her feelings for this guy when they were still children/young teenagers seems to have come to terms with what she wants as an adult - and tries to pursue him now. In the meantime, she still acknowledges that Daisuke is playing a huge part in Ken's life, she even teases them a little about it... And it's all good-hearted, gentle and fun. Ken on the other hand, still seems to be a little oblivious and taken aback - but not exactly opposed to the attention. So the main takeaway here is: We're getting actual justification. We see them slowly but steadily working towards a potentially romantic relationship as they're already adults - and it's beautifully done, hands down.

Whether I think why and how they’d work.

Whether I think they'd work is still an entirely different story. Granted, we saw the course of the series now portraying Miyako as more of a career-oriented person, actively studying abroad and learning about other cultures - so we can be assured she won't JUST end up as a stay-home mom as depicted 24 years ago... And I think that is important because Miyako IS a person who, similarly to Mimi, cannot stay still, she needs to have goals to pursue. We also see that she IS into romance and her trying to get closer to Ken is, as mentioned, wonderfully depicted, because it absolutely fits her outgoing personality... However, it's still difficult to estimate how Ken plays into all this, because, on his behalf, we can only really guess how he feels.

To go into speculation mode again: Miyako and Daisuke actually have a lot of things in common, they're both loud and opinionated, they'll tell you when they don't like something, they're passionate about the things and people they like and may suffer from more or less elaborated inferiority complexes at times - and without trying to undermine Miyako's impact on Ken, you can absolutely see that Ken would have a point in actually liking Miyako back BECAUSE of Daisuke. Because without a doubt, Daisuke, as mentioned, must have had such a great impact on the person Ken grew into and chose to present himself as an adult... Long story short, Ken would not be Ken without Daisuke. And since Daisuke and Miyako have so much in common - you can see Ken has a type. He needs someone who pulls him out of his head, stopping him from overthinking too much. Miyako may be prone to overthinking too, whereas Daisuke just goes straight for what his heart tells him - but The Beginning!Miyako has learned to channel the overwhelmingly loud thoughts in her head. And that is something Ken is obviously VERY impressed and encouraged by. Probably even attracted to.

Again, I still believe the movie brilliantly depicted that dynamic between not only Ken and Miyako but also the role Daisuke plays for both of them, so... Yes, a part of me still thinks they would do brilliantly in a polyamorous relationship and I will stick to that - because these dorks need each other and play off of each other beautifully.

Either way, with or without Daisuke, you see Miyako and Ken being not only soft and supportive, but also both very career-driven as young adults. We have yet to see if Koushirou they manage to find a way to make gate-hopping work again, but I can see them trying to figure their relationship out through the course of the next years, finishing their studies, going on exploration dates, teaching each other languages and talk about coding and psychology and what-not... Ken will still be tied to very tight working schedules and there will most likely be arguments about prioritization - but that's also what Daisuke is there for to mediate between them. Hehe. And through all that, Miyako may eventually want to juggle the whole "career-woman with children" thing if they work out. I can see that for them, they just have to work on their prioritization - as mentioned!

Whether I’d prefer them as platonic or romantic ship.

Personally, I still believe Ken and Miyako should have been very clearly depicted as bisexual, both of them - but I am already glad that we got Daisuke acknowledged so heavily, that is more than I could have hoped for! I must admit that I have never been the biggest fan of Kenyako/Miyaken, simply because a.) I always wanted Daiken to be the first canonically confirmed mlm relationship in Digimon and b.) it always kinda felt a little one-sided on Miyako's behalf to me - but The Beginning really made me like their dynamic and the potential behind them there, so I can appreciate it a lot more by now. Again, my most preferred outcome would be an open poly-relationship with Daisuke, but I can absolutely appreciate the course this ship has taken at this point.

[ashsostrange]

i’m (not) sorry to say, but miles is better off by himself.

idk if i’ve ever written a post this long, but i got energy tonight. y’all have been sucked into the black hole of shipping, so let me ground you and remind you of this amazing thing called being single. i’m gna talk ab margo and gwen, but mostly gwen bc she’s obv miles’ (main) love interest. i’ve said more than enough about why miles and gwen don’t work/make sense. if you wna be enlightened then feel free to click the links.

thoughts on ghostflower: here!

reblogging a moot's post w/ added thoughts: hereee!

i love ranting so let’s get it! 😛

i don't have much to say about margo bc sadly, she's barely there. what i will say though is that as cute as miles and margo would be together, there’s one more movie left lol. the third movie’s gna be busy as hell. there’s literally no time for romance, and to rush miles and margo (two people who just met) into liking each other in, like, a three hour timespan would just be terrible writing. plus, we all know she’s there for some bs having to do with miles nd gwen, which is literally soooooooo very lame, words can't describe. one, where are you finding the time to cram in jealousy/all this angsty romance mess when miles’ dad is ab to die and the universe is ab to collapse bc of a nigga that looks like the lovechild of a cardboard box and a cow?? two, is this really all margo is here for?? to make gwen jealous or “help miles realize he’s in love with gwen” ?? shameeee, like summer said. 😐 i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again: margo could be SO much more than a disposable love interest!!!

gwiles/ghostflower fans, i’m going to tell you something that will make you upset. i said i was coming for you and i meant it 🗣️‼️

before you yell at me and push smoke out of your ears, i need you to put your right hand on your chest and close your eyes. you feel your heartbeat? good. now, count to three while taking deep breaths and remember that none of this shit is real so you’d look stupid af trying to attack me. 🙃 some of y’all are getting TOO comfortable being unnecessarily disrespectful and ion like that lol. don’t try it here bc i’m on another level of not gaf!

listen, even if (when?) gwen and miles team up to save his dad, it won’t change the fact that gwen was keeping some hefty info from miles, yo. she was smiling in jeff’s face and cracking jokes like she didn’t know he was bout to die. y’all gotta be so very real with yourselves. you wouldn’t wna date, let alone be FRIENDS with someone who kept something that big from you, regardless of the circumstances or lack of ill intent. one of the most important people in your life concealing the fact that you’re about to lose another important person in your life is insane.

i’m aware that gwen didn’t tell miles about his dad because she genuinely thought it’d cause mass destruction if he saved jeff. thing is, even if miles knew that, i think he’d still feel betrayed. that’s 100% valid because this is his dad we’re talking about. he just lost his uncle not too long ago, too. i wouldn’t blame miles if he never wanted anything to do with gwen again. i wouldn’t blame bro if he got sick to his stomach every time he saw her. it’d be justified, bc if he never followed her that night, then he wouldn’t have had the chance to save jeff.

my point is that you can be a “good person” and still fuck up bad enough to make someone never wna speak to you again. miles is a sweetheart so he’ll probably forgive gwen. my thing is, miles forgiving gwen doesn’t mean the two of them are obligated to be friends again. they can handle it maturely, go their separate ways, nd never speak again. it’s really not even gna hurt y’all cuz it’s the last mf movie anyway??? 😭😭

if it isn’t clear by now, i don’t want miles and gwen together at all. they have no business being around each other frl 🙃 not as friends and definitely not as lovers. like, sure, that one scene where they’re swinging/talking on the bank was my absolute fav. it was cute. i shipped them before i really thought about it. that scene is still my fav, but my adoration for it isn’t gna stop me from keeping it real.

i really don’t care what anyone says or how in love they think these two are, this isn’t a “forgive and forget” situation. if the writers truly wanted gwen and miles to be involved romantically, then not only should they have structured their dynamic better, they shouldn’t have made gwen the person she was in this movie. love, love, LOVE redemption arcs because it’s a reminder that we're human and we're flawed, but you can’t redeem yourself from that. sorry. (not) i say miles should leave that girl alone 🤷‍♀️ leave all potential girls alone ffs.

in conclusion, it’s okay for miles to be single. he's 15 anyway, it's not like he'll die without a girl. i’m the suckiest sucker for anything to do with romance, but characters in film/animation don’t need to have love interests for a project to be considered good. if you feel like it does, then maybe ts you’re watching just sucks, lmao. a girl and a boy can be friends without one having feelings for the other, or both of 'em having mutual feelings. (in the media idk ab irl..) it’s time to stop forcing ts. please.

and it’s okay y’all, i promise you. it’s okay if miles and gwen don’t end up dating. it's okay if they reconcile and stay friends. it’s okay if they reconcile and don’t stay friends. though unlikely, it’s also okay if miles doesn’t forgive gwen at all! resolutions like these go to show that you can “forgive” someone without letting them have access to you anymore. that’s what miles needs to do. straying away from the “happy ending” everyone is expecting would be nice. it’d be a different approach and a realistic way to complete the franchise. (i’m not just saying this bc i love angst)

but before the gwiles (ugly ass ship name btw) fans start throwing up and telling me to end my shit, it’s 99% unlikely that anything i just stated will actually happen. we’re more than likely getting a kiss between miles and gwen, nd that’s bc the writers are probably high off the same dope they were on when they wrote gwen sneaking in thru miles’ window, j for his parents to be way more calm about it than any other normal parent would be. i could say some more about certain scenes but that's for another night.

miles doesn’t need to be with anyone. especially not gwen when it comes down to it.

oh and i HATE peter b. fuck that nigga. he was nun but an extra in this movie and i know he’s an opp in the next. 🙎‍♀️

that’s all! if you read allat then thanks, cuz i wrote a lot. if you're feeling angry, then go for a walk. this isn’t a place for any typa criticism bc i am right, therefore, i am not requesting confirmation. 🙌 i said what i said. have a good night.

[sincerely-sofie]

In light of people being way too kind to me about the excerpts from that Hollow Knight fic I posted a bit ago: I have some more snippets of various old Hollow Knight fics that I want to get out into the world because they've been buzzing around in my head like angry yellow jackets at a summertime picnic 🥲

Hollow Knight Fanfic Speed-Dating, GO!!!!!

(From a fic shipping Hollow and the Collector:)

The Malfunctioning Kingsmold made it a point to try and drag the Hollow Knight into imperfection along with him (often quite literally, as he would hook a finger into the anchors on its pauldrons to lead it on his misadventures). Not that it would ever stoop to such things— the preservation of Hallownest rested in its hands, and it could not safely bolster up the kingdom into eternity if it dirtied its fingers with indulgence— but the Malfunctioning Kingsmold was persistently getting on its nerves and looking to make it crack. A mountain could not bow to the wind, but that did not make its howling any less insufferable. 

(From a fic where Ghost checks in on the Hunter a while after the Embrace the Void ending:)

The “cave” lying in the center of the chamber stirred. Six eyes opened in its yawning mouth, and the mound rose, revealing the head of the bug she’d come to visit. The Hunter growled, “You carry the scent of the hunt, little wanderer. I take it prey has been numerous.”

Hornet would have just complained that she stunk. Thankfully, the Hunter didn’t turn up his nose over such things. Ghost shook her head— she hadn’t slain many bugs since the Infection was uprooted, and that vengefly wasn’t even all that close when she slashed it. She didn’t know what he was talking about. 

The Hunter dug most of this cavern himself, yet his head still brushed the ceiling when he rose to his full height. “The pestilence has gone to dust. My own quarry has adapted accordingly, and I find that I might hunt them anew. You’ve not taken the chance to pursue the beasts of this kingdom?”

She shook her head, stopped, then shrugged. 

“Curious.” He reached out a large hand that she clambered onto. He held her level with his eyes. “I thought you one to continue the hunt even after finishing your journal.”

Ah, right, that. She pulled the journal out from her cloak and fanned through its pages, stopping on a leaf that she’d inserted herself. She set it on his palm. She squatted and pointed to the page, waiting as he looked it over. 

He blinked. “You hunted gods.” There was a long pause, then a rumbling laugh filled the cavern. “And to think I once called you squib! What an insult to those haughty fools, being brought low by one so tiny. But a hunter’s strength lies in deception, doesn’t it, in lulling prey into a sense of safety— of course you, so small and so plain, would bring gods to their knees.”

Behind her mask, she snickered, though it came out sounding more like a rattling cough than anything else. She didn’t mind being thought of as small when it made her seem all the mightier.

(From a fic where Hornet encounters Quirrel outside of Dirtmouth:)

Hornet took a chance and leapt down one branch further. The bug was close enough now that she could tell it was a pillbug— he wore a bandana around his head and carried a remarkably crafted nail. She hissed, “I’ll ask again. What do you want, traveler? Why are you in these woods?”

“I’m here to visit someone in Dirtmouth and to do good where I can. Nothing sinister, I assure you.”

She gripped her needle beneath her cloak. “I am a stewardess of Dirtmouth. Tell me who you’re looking for and why. Answer well and I’ll help you find who you’re looking for.”

“Ah, well… I’m afraid I don’t know their name. They didn’t talk much about themselves— or anything at all, really. They’ve helped me more times than I can count, but I haven’t heard from them since… since they saved my life. They’re rather small, about yea high? To be frank, they also carry a very unfortunate scent about them.”

Hornet blinked. 

“They knew how to wield a nail with frightening skill, if that helps.”

Hornet pinched her brow. 

“Do you know who they might be, or—?”

“Gods. You’re talking about Ghost. Follow me.”

(From the same fic as above, when Quirrel and Ghost reunite and catch up on what happened while they were separated:)

Quirrel’s eyes widened. “He had a beard and an odd horn, yes. Do you know Lemm?”

She nodded and held out her handful of Geo.

“You did business with him!” He laughed. “Then you must have been the customer who he loved to complain so much about.”

Ghost nodded and scuffed her foot on the sidewalk, proudly showing off the muddy print she left.

“He doesn’t like dirt, does he? He also said that you came into his shop one day smelling like you spent a week in the sewers. Did you really take a trip through them?”

She opened her map again and pointed to where she’d jumped down an open grate, then fallen into the Royal Waterways.

Quirrel tilted his head, face screwed up with disgust. “Well, at least it was sewers that once belonged to the nobility.”

She shrugged. That sort of thing didn’t mean much to her. Dung was dung, though Ogrim might argue otherwise.

(From a fic where Hollow finds the Pale King hiding in the Dream Realm version of the White Palace, and he hugs her when he realizes how badly he messed up with the Vessels:)

He could hear the quiet whines coming from their throat, now— tiny, pitiful, weepy sounds that were strangled by a spell to prevent any word from escaping a vessel's mouth. He'd woven that spell. He'd done that to them. And here the child was, now taller than him almost twice over, coming to him for forgiveness, when he could feel the openings in the shell of their back that he had carved into them.

He felt sick. 

The Hollow Knight's side was sunken in. 

He shifted his hand along their shoulder, confused, and eventually pulled back to better examine them. The Hollow Knight did not move as he took hold of their cloak, nor did they so much as twitch as he moved it to the side. They only hunched inward, ashamed, when he cursed under his breath at the sight their gnarled shoulder that ended in bandages instead of an arm, how pockmarked and sunken-in all of their shell was— not an inch of it spared from the mercilessly generous scarring. Even Herrah, the warrior queen famed for her countless scars, would blanch at the severity of it all. 

He held them closer and fought back tears of his own.

(Later passage from the same fic as the above--- TPK has left the Dream Realm and is given temporary housing in Ghost's home while Mato is visiting.)

"My apologies, I forgot my manners." The Nailmaster smiled brightly. "My name is Mato. I studied under the Great Nailsage, and I am this little warrior's father. By choice, not by blood, though it makes little difference." He reached up to pat the arm of the little vessel sat astride his shoulders. 

The vessel squeezed their arms tighter around his horns, pouting.

Ah. The Pale King took a sip of his tea. It was poorly steeped and the flavor was far too strong as a result, but the opportunity to ground himself in the face of that revelation was welcome. 

(This child had grown up with darkness above them and dried out husks underfoot. They had managed to escape the Abyss. They had found someone to provide the care and concern for them that no one else had. He had no right to feel as pained by the fact as he did.)

(That fact did nothing to change the guilt spearing him.)

"How noble, to take in a wandering grub," he finally said. 

(More dialogue happens--- Ghost storms off to her bedroom in the middle of Mato and TPK's conversation, and Hollow follows shortly after to comfort her.)

"Is…" The Pale King struggled to summon both the words and the resolve to ask his question. "Is this a frequent occurrence?" He tapped his claws against the mug. "That the H— that Holly is required to reassure Ghost?"

"There are good days and bad. Their brother is also typically here to bolster the child before she begins struggling too much, so it doesn't often get to the point where Holly is needed." There was a long moment of dead air. He sighed. "I shouldn't be bothering you with all this. It's her business, not mine." He smiled again, resuming his jovial demeanor. "I interrupted you before. How are you related to Ghost and her siblings?"

"I am their—" He paused. "I am their father. Theirs by birth, at least."

Mato blinked several times, kind expression flickering between many emotions before settling on a carefully neutral look. "Ah. Ghost has…" He glanced away, brow furrowed. "… mentioned you on a few occasions, I believe."

[f0point5]

The only thing I find weird about Rebecca is her mouth. Like it doesn't match the rest of her face for me. But that said she's incredibly beautiful and I wish I was half as beautiful 😂

I remember seeing you say in a previous post that all the fic hate comments are irl based and I still come across hate comments about Rebecca. I'll admit I was sceptical at first but then I took a step back like whoa, it's non of my business. But what irks me to no end is how she's scrutinized for allegedly being an escort (back in the day with Scott Disick) but like be for real. Who wouldn't want to be paid to hang onto the arm of some dude? What if she's a clout chaser? What if it's pr? Who wouldn't jump at the chance.... And at least it's not some ugly 80 year old grandpa but Carlos Sainz and Scott Disick. These people act like they're holier than thou but it's so clear they're just jealous.

We need to normalize women taking advantage of their looks, why shouldn't life be easier for us? Men already treat us like some play things why can't we make a profit off that? I say good for her. I do think their relationship ship is genuine but even if it's not, good. For. Her. I'm not a work boss bitch girlie if I looked hot enough I'd 100% be doing the same thing. Work is just not it for me.

I think she’s done a lot of filler. I don’t think it looks bad at all but I think because how we all see filler now that it does kind of take away from the elegance of her face. It doesn’t make her any less beautiful but I think it kind of makes her look a bit more…commercial? I think that’s how they’d say it in modelling terms.

You know, everyone’s a girl’s girl until she’s pretty. Everyone supports sex workers until they’re not standing on a street corner in ripped fishnets risking their lives. The Pearl clutching over how women maintain their lifestyle will never end, especially when these women actually manage to do better out of it than people working a 9-5. I could go for hours on that topic but my point is…they only “support” a woman’s right to do what she wants if they can still feel superior about it. It’s the vestige of bitter people. It’s the same people who will call wags “jobless” while sitting at their desk at the job they hate and are resentful that they have to do in the first place.

And this is resentment because the genetic lottery didn’t swing their way. Because their “principles” would evaporate real quick with a winning lottery ticket I’ll tell you that.

I do think Carlos and Rebecca are “genuine” in the sense that they aren’t a PR set up. I do think it’s a relationship of convenience for them, just from the vibes, but that’s their private business. It only bothers people who know he wouldn’t look at them twice.

[noname-nonartist]

Do you ship anyone in JJK?

(Ignore the inconsistencies/wonky-ness, I rushed the vid rip)

Oh boy, are you ready for a long post?! Because I do have a good amount of ships that I really like in jjk! ^w^

However, I shall list them all off from most popular to the more niche ones that I really love. Keep in mind this is my own opinion and that I honestly have a monkey brain, so my explanation for why I like them may seem incoherent. =w=;

Well! Let’s go! My favorite ships in jjk!

Gojo X Geto

Let’s start with the two strongest! I ship them because of the their opposite ideology when it comes to strength. They are also foils of each other in a lot of way. They may be different but are very similar too. And like, I love the little interactions between them, and how at the end of the Hidden Inventory Arc their ideology switch! Plus… It’s a very angsty pairing too, and I do love me some angst~ >:3c

Yuji X Megumi

Another pair of opposites! I normally don’t really ship the protagonists with the deuteragonist in Shonen series, but I do here in jjk. Because they actually feel like friends in the beginning that can grow into something deeper. They are opposite once again due to their ideology. Yuji want to do his best to save everyone, while Megumi is more picky.

However, they are also similar in a sense that they value their own life less than others. Both are basically suicidal which is excellent for some juicy angst~~ X3c

Yuta X Maki

“Whaaaaa? Yuta and Maki? Isn’t Maki a lesbian tho?” I hear the fandom say. In which I respond “Nah, she’s Bi~”

Okay, but in all seriousness. I do ship them a lot tho. There just so much content and moments with them, you know?! Like and they are a pair of opposites yet again! They are extremely strong but their ideology is different. Maki is a starch individual, who fight for her own self love and not really for the sake of others. Whereas, Yuta fights for the sake of others that he love, but not really out of self love for himself. The chance for character growth for both parties are huuuge! :3c

Kasumi X Kokichi

What else is there to say about this ship? But that it’s an excellent tragic love story~

Okay, but like with all the other ships that I love. They are a pair of opposites that are very similar. Kasumi is considered “Useless Miwa” while Kokichi is one of the strongest of the Kyoto Kids. But both have a deep desire to connect which is a rarity in the whole of Jujutsu. However, due to Kokichi’s flaw, he pushed Kasumi away due to her weakness in order to protect her. But it was this very action that hurts Miwa the most. It’s all very tragic and I love it! >:Dc

Nobara X Mai

Okay, I seriously love this ship. Like sooooo bad! Like it’s my favorite!

The huge reason why I ship them because of the opportunities they could have if they bonded and get to know each other. It’s the whole enemies to lover trope! Like they hate each other at first, but here’s the thing. They may be different but they are also very similar too. Both are essentially normal bitchy girls. However, both express their girlhood differently, Nobara is egotistical and is very confident. Whereas, Mai have very little self love and is not at all confident.

Both had a chance to learn and grow from each other! And I’ll be forever saddened that it’ll never happen in the manga. ;—;

Junpei X Nanako

“Huhhhh??? That’s a ship??? They don’t even meet in canon tho!”

And yes! It is true that they haven’t meant in canon. But this is where you have reached the point of the post where we are straying from cannon and into this AU fic series that I’ve been hyper-fixated on for months now.

The fic where we first see their interactions would be in “Exponential Growth” in where Nanako and Mimiko are transferred to Junpei’s school just before winter break. And their friendship and interactions is just *chef’s kiss* I love it so much! Like Nanako sees Junpei for who he is, and still accepts him since to her “he isn’t boring at least.”

Plus! It’s the loser boy x popular girl trope that’s so much fun! *w*

Nanami X Michi

(Art done by me lol)

Oh yeah, we are heading into the Cannon X OC territory now, babyyyyy! I don’t care if you think it’s cringe! Cringe culture is dead! Michi is an OC within the AU, but like he is written so well and have such a compelling arc! He first appeared in “Exponential Decay” and have another major role in “Exponential Growth” too. But the fic within the AU that had me actively start shipping Michi with Nanami is “Butterfly Curve”.

Like I don’t wanna say too much, but if you read those scenes and interactions, you would ship them too! Hopefully anyway… •3•;

Naoya X Li

(Art on the left done by me again lol)

Oh boy… Now this ship is gonna be the most controversial one due to Naoya being Naoya. It’s another Cannon X OC ship. The character Li appears in “The Inugami Family” and she is such a compelling character.

Here’s the thing, both Li and Naoya are very similar despite their different circumstances within the clan. Both bonded over being essentially alone. For they are not being their true self, and only hide it. Li, pretending to be perfect, while Naoya plays up his horribleness. Both have such an interesting and nuanced relationship. It’s twisted and messed up, but it’s the one that they only had.

Super good! Highly recommend checking it out! ^w^

[beehiveofblorbos]

Wait if I can ask you for any character breakdown, then can you break down Tsurugi Kinjo? No pressure ofc

Sure! I’m pretty glad you asked this anyway, in retrospect. I should clarify a few things.

When I watched DRA the first time, Tsurugi Kinjo was, for me, a fairly likable character. In the first chapter, he was simply the type who kept order, which was fine but not really a draw for me personally. After all, I don’t see him as adorably earnest as Taka is, and I was biased towards the Impostor from the start.

The second chapter is when he got interesting to me. I liked him going in, and his “preliminary criminal” concept, as well as how psycho/determined he was to stop the killing game. It added a layer of interest and conflict to the group dynamic that entertained me. To see him as a protective character was cool too!

But I couldn’t see how he would be allowed to continue on like this, and certainly not for long. So I thought he’d die (a lot, really, kept guessing it until ch4 began) and then he didn’t and got EVEN MORE INTERESTING with his conflict with Akane. I didn’t hate him for that, I actually liked him a lot for it.

Through ch3 and ch4, he gained my favor even more. I really liked this character who was earnestly offering his investigations, working very hard, and coming to intelligent conclusions. His special treatment of Yuki also grew on me, their relationship development is very endearing. Even when Tsurugi cut Yuki off in ch4, it was for a very understandable reason - he had been going against his principles by bonding with Yuki, so seeing them snap apart like that made sense for his character even as it was heartbreaking for them both. His commitment to preventing a murder, even losing his mind to that crazy point of killing everyone by suicide was kind of a point where I had to momentarily reconsider… but I forgave Teruya and Haruhiko, so after some time before continuing, I forgave Tsurugi too and viewed that scene as an interesting perversion of his beliefs, and somewhat revealing that he does think people should die before committing crimes.

When he tried to kill himself,,, well, I watched DRA back before the winter of 2022. I had missed him a lot during ch5, and was incredibly panicked and worried about his health. Then he woke up at the end of ch5, having grown beyond his previous principles. I would say at that point on the first watch, my favorites list looked like this: Yuki, then Rei, then Tsurugi, then Akane, then Teruya. Pretty shocking, right? Haha. I want to emphasize through saying this how high I viewed Tsurugi at that time. It was a great move for his character.

But then, “Yuki Maeda” is Utsuro after all. Because of that, Tsurugi became broken. I don’t know if you remember this scene, but Tsurugi returned to the path he’d walked before. Even though he knew it was wrong in his heart, he was driven into a “despairing hope”. Like “Yuki Maeda”, Tsurugi Kinjo is a true tragedy.

For me who had loved him so much specifically for his character development, I couldn’t accept this. I was unable to “root for” him anymore. It is easy for me to like characters who have morally wrong attitudes or ideals. But Tsurugi Kinjo is criminally frustrating for me.

To be honest, he’s probably the character you have the best chance of trying to convince me to like more. I understand that he’s a good story, a good “tragedy”. But I just. Gah, why did things turn out like that for him? It was even difficult trying to reconnect or retap into that time, I’d put up so many mental blocks without rewatching that I couldn’t take it down until now.

Ah, I’ll answer the rest of that post too. I’ll put it under a cut though since this was already quite long.

Forgive the big font below! I couldn’t figure out how to change it. And the poll is because I clicked the wrong button but don’t feel like doing the copy paste game.

[ciaossu-imagines]

For the polyshipping day of the event, I used the below prompt for a polyship between Badou Nails, the reader, and Heine Rammsteiner from Dogs: Bullets & Carnage! Though an underappreciated gem, I hope that there exists fans of the series out there and that they might enjoy or smile at these little headcanons!

Send me a ship and I’ll tell you who:

Always wins when they play Trivia Crack?

Badou’s surprisingly good at the history and arts questions. I think Dave was really into history and arts and Badou has kind of soaked in the knowledge through osmosis, through listening to Dave talk and because his older brother was into them, he kind of felt they must be cool things to know about. Heine, on the other hand, is terrible at Trivia Crack. He’ll get the odd question right and surprise everyone, but other than that, the only questions he gets right are the ones he’s memorized from playing it enough times and those questions popping up every time. It’s likely that you, the reader, are the one to win, honestly.

Laughs when their partner trips on something?

Both Badou and Heine will be guilty of doing this. Heine’s is a knee-jerk reaction, even if his partner hurts himself, but the laughter only lasts a second or two before he checks to make sure they’re all right. Badou’s still laughing while checking to make sure the other is alright and helping them if necessary…however, this only applies to the reader character, who is a little more fragile, likely, than the boys. Both of them will laugh and mock the other for being clumsy, pretty good-naturedly, since they know there’s probably no real damage done. Badou gets the most upset at being laughed at.

Would drop ice down the back of the other’s shirt as a joke?

It’s Badou and it’s normally Heine that bears the brunt of these kinds of jokes. When it comes to the reader, Badou has tried it once or twice and finds their squirming cute, but they either get upset at him and he feels bad or they pay him back a lot harsher, and with more surprise, than Heine does.

Spoils the ending of books or movies?

Badou is actually really considerate about doing this. He hates being spoiled on things himself, like he will get quite angry if someone does that to him, so he doesn’t spoil things for other people, at least never on purpose. Heine really doesn’t stop to think about people not being caught up or not knowing about all the spoilers. If they mention something he’s familiar with and they seem to want to talk about it, he talks about it with them and spoilers just naturally leak into his conversation. He’s never really too bummed out either if he hears spoilers, so he doesn’t really stop to consider that other’s might feel differently from him in that regard.

Always posts a picture of the other as their MCM or WCW?

It would have to be you, the lovely reader. While Badou does know what those things are, he doesn’t actively do anything about them and doesn’t really get the point. Heine doesn’t even know what the hell those acronyms mean. He’d be more upset about you posting his pictures without his permission.

Eats the last piece of cake in the fridge before the other can have it?

It’s either you or Badou, simply by the fact that cake isn’t really Heine’s favourite. He’ll have some, maybe once in a blue moon, here and there, but it’s not something he really wants to eat all that regularly and one slice is enough, at those times. He might not even finish the whole slice. Badou tends to late night snack and just grabs whatever is easy and handy in the fridge though, so he’s a little guilty of eating both yours and Heine’s things before you can have a chance to.

Obnoxiously celebrates Monday Punday every week?

Badou runs on sarcasm and bad puns for his humour. It’s just who he is. He doesn’t need a day specifically for it because bad puns come every day. He’ll have learned a horrible amount of them from Mimi and Dave and he rehashes them and expects both you and Heine to laugh at them, no matter how often he’s used them. It hurts him a little when nobody appreciates his humour, even with a pity laugh.

Makes loving hack posts on other’s Facebook/Instagram/Tumblr/Twitter, etc.?

Heine, for one, doesn’t have any social media. He thinks the whole thing and point of them is stupid. He has zero interest in any form of social media and wouldn’t really check either yours or Badou’s unless it was necessary (ie: to track you two down) and he wouldn’t think of popping onto either of your social medias to post anything. Badou is actually really respectful that way and wouldn’t do it either. His personal phone, his online accounts, things like that are his personal business and he’ll take breaking into either of them or going and snooping through them to kind of be invading his privacy and it’s likely to cause a fight if you do that to him.

Has to beat their partner in every game?

Heine gets wicked competitive. It doesn’t even matter how silly and stupid the game. He doesn’t even take it seriously or seem to care about winning, at least in the beginning, but somehow as the game goes on, he finds himself getting more and more invested in it and his competitive nature comes out. He hates losing to either of you guys in games and gets grumpy when he does.

Keeps their partner up half the night talking about random stuff?

Badou is horrible for this. He suffers from some insomnia and really bad nightmares, so his sleep schedule is all over the place. He’s a night owl by nature too and spending half the night awake is no stranger to this man. But there’s something about those late-night hours that relaxes him too, that makes him feel the most at peace, and he’ll be up for the longest, most honest and sincere, and soul-searching talks during those periods. Even if you feel like sleeping, it’s hard not to want to take advantage of his openness during this time and it might be sleep that’s okay being wasted to you, the lovely reader, depending on how heavily you guard your precious sleep.

Eats too much garlic and tries to kiss their partner anyway?

Both Heine and Badou are guilty of this, but I’m going to go with Badou being slightly more guilty of this, just because he also smokes and doesn’t use mouthwash or a mint afterwards, expecting you to just be okay with kissing him no matter what his breath is like.

[cq-studios]

20, 15 and 3 please :3

3. a character that fandom has helped you appreciate

The fandom has helped me appreciate so many characters way more than I did initially but I’ll have to say the most drastic is Kairi. 100% Kairi.

Like when I got into KH I kinda just branded her as bland anime girl love interest with nothing going for her (which is a mindset I’ve been working hard to get out of and I’m confident I’ve made progress in) but the fandom actually helped me see there was more to her than that. And I know in a lot of situations it ends up being the opposite but learning about the evidence for and shipping Soriku (specifically Violet Howler and Tennelle’s videos) actually helped me understand and like her more. Taking her out and away from this ‘fated’ romance with Sora for a bit actually helped me see the traits that I otherwise would have dismissed. Because her not wanting Sora to leave her behind (because she’s in love with him) became her not wanting Sora to leave her behind (because she’s afraid of change, because she’s scared he’s going to drift away like Riku did, because she doesn’t want to become an afterthought) and other stuff that I could probably write more about if I wasn’t half asleep rn lol

I think part of the issue is that I have a sort of negative knee jerk to straight romantics relationships because they’re so often poorly written or I just don’t connect to them because I’m Ace/Aro and I already have a hard time connecting to any romance in general (queer stuff is easier for me to connect to because it’s representation and it feels like a victory when it happens) and that leads me to just sort of write off both characters who are involved as boring to me (for a long time I wasn’t really a huge fan of Sora either, which feels insane to say now lol).

Sora was saved a bit faster just because of his sheer amount of screen time and focus. I hope Kairi will get a chance to shine in a future game, and that opinion is mostly because the fandom helped shine a light on the things I missed that make her a character.

15. the character that always makes you smile

See it’d be cheating to say all of the NULs (like, man, I love those guys so much, but y’all know, you’re here) so I’ll switch it up today and say Xion. I love her so much. And I mean, I think literally in my last post I was gushing about her, but you know sometimes I just have to talk about Xion. I feel like I don’t talk about Xion enough. Like, she always makes me so happy (except when everything goes wrong at the end of Days then she makes me sad, so very sad but in a good way lol).

She and Roxas were my favourites before KHUX came in with the steel chair, and while I still like Roxas, Xion was the one who’s still up there with the NULs despite it all as a comfort character. Love her, wish I had smart things to say about her lol

20. your very first fandom!

Littlest Pet Shop and/or Pokémon. I honestly do not remember… I was like 3 or 4, I think.

I used to watch so many LPS YouTube skits and series and just scroll on Google for hours looking at Pokémon fanart. I avidly collected (and still collect) both things. I probably shouldn’t have been able to just have free rein watching/looking at all that at that age, but my parents didn’t really know how to parent yet (I’m their oldest kid lol).

Probably watched some Elsa-gate level stuff at some point because I remember my mom telling me not to watch any LPS skits that were made by men???

Also y’all remember Pikachu X Ketchup? I think about Pikachu X Ketchup every day…

[acespec-ed]

I don’t really know if that’s a right blog to say this, but you helped me earlier and I feel forever thankful for this and you are very trustworthy person so I’ll try.

Am I in the wrong for actually not minding that some ship aro or ace characters? I know that it’s huge topic in the fandoms and a lot of people feel like it’s scraping identity from the character, but meanwhile I sit there and I’m like „As long as they portray it as a spectrum of aromanticism or asexuality, or will make it queerplatonic relationship I’m fine”.

Like, please- I really need a different opinion on this topic, because I feel like I’m in the wrong, because this behaviours really can hurt aro/ace person and in the same time that my opinion is valid, because I dunno, maybe I’m kinda projecting my own experiences on characters.

Sorry for bad english and repetetive phrases, I’m kinda overworked heh. Also, I bet you don’t remember my take, but I had internalized arophobia (idk if I used a right word. I mean that I was denying that I can be aromantic). If you don’t want to answer I’m fine with it. I’m still thankfull for running this blog and answering even for difficult questions. We need more people like you.

You're welcome! 💜

Shipping ace/aro characters is something I have mixed feelings on. For the most part, I think it's okay to ship ace/aro characters IF the person shipping them is respectful of their identities. After all, some aces and aros enter sexual/romantic relationships for a variety of reasons. I don't see anything wrong with exploring those options. Especially when it's an ace or aro person doing the writing. I've heard writing ace/aro characters in relationships have helped ace/aro people with their own feelings. But we also can't force authors to come out when they don't want to, so we can't demand only ace/aro people are allowed to write them. (Besides, allos writing about us will hopefully cause them to do research on us, thus helping them be more educated when they otherwise wouldn't be.)

So, I'm mostly okay with it, as long as the person is respectful of the identities. If you (anyone reading this) are concerned that you're not being respectful, then chances are, you are being respectful. The kind of people I'm referring to are those who use the "aces/aros can still x!1!" excuse to justify shipping two characters together because they think they're hot. And go on to write them as allo characters. And then double down when you try calling them out on it/pointing out flaws in the portrayal. But people who are capable of listening to aspecs when they point out mistakes in their rep and willing to learn are okay.

My only major concern is, when the majority of a fandom starts shipping a potentially ace/aro character with someone. It's worrisome that the creators are gonna scratch the possibility of them being ace/aro by shoving them in a relationship to make the fans happy. And then we lose that potential rep. Then, have to come up with our own excuses as to why we see that character as ace/aro. Then, WE'RE the ones who have to sit there and go "aces/aros can still x!" while aphobes brush us off as a joke. But in my experience, that potentially ace/aro character will get paired off with someone regardless. So even that doesn't bother me enough to shame fans for shipping them.

All that aside, it looks like you're shipping them while still being respectful of their identities. So you're good. 💜

(Any concerned writers out there reading this, I once made a post about how to respectfully write acespec characters here.)