#again. nothing to do with the writer or the story because they were both written so Perfectly but just in general it was sad to me

[gothamstreetcat]

Putting under the cut what ended up being such a long sad/angry rant about Wesley and how he was treated on the show. I just want to say how I feel. A lot of this is personal and I apologize.

I’ve been thinking a lot over the past few days about how it really boils my blood that I feel there was so much pressure for Wesley to be in love with Fred. If he was not "in love" (I really don't even want to say that) with her he had to be a creep and if not that he had to be obsessed (based off of how the show was really portraying him at points). It’s almost as if he had no value unless he was in love with her or his entire being didn’t revolve around her. Like, if he wasn’t the bumbling fool for everyone to make fun off he just had to be so obsessed to the points it made him look bad. Almost as though the writers took his little "crush" from one fucking episode and decided to run a train without the tracks.

It's such a shame because this idea of Wesley being infatuated with Fred came across as though it had to be his whole personality as though Wesley himself couldn't be loved for anything else (like being smart or funny). And the entirety surrounding Fred was also used as a foil for his relationship with Lilah, which in my opinion is so stupid, because this crush with Fred was -again- so fleeting and ended so badly, yet at the same time it consumes Wesley's being.

And I know I’ve said this in the past, but Wesley during Billy was not him; and I really believe it has everything to do with his father and how he was raised and someone he was scared to become. Wesley does not come off to me as the kind of person to feel that was towards women or have monstrous/evil thoughts. Even for "dark" Wesley that's really pushing it. He's just the kind of guy "that makes the tough decisions even if he's making them alone." Not only that but Wesley constantly has moments where you know he's been abused, and for me, I see that as he's not going to be an abuser because he's already the abused, even as an adult. Even when his not-dad showed up he fell back into his old self and was suddenly never good enough. So, going back Billy it just seems hard for me to imagine Wesley ever trying again after the traumatic events that ensued for him - that also had him struggling with himself as a person. Having him be so infatuated with Fred after this - to me - is just so disrespectful to his character, especially if only to hurt him in the end and further isolate him. Wesley is not a perfect person, I know that but some of the shit he went though on the show just seemed over the top.

I don't actually know or personally understand why people even want Wesley and Fred to be together but let me say how I've been feeling that Fred is just a more loved version of Wesley - another thing that really makes me upset/uncomfortable. They were both smart but somehow Fred was smarter (during that episode when those demons came and wanted her brain instead of Wesley's) yet, at the same time everyone needed Wesley's help when he wasn't part of the team anymore. Which, of course there are different ways to smart and should be recognized but at the same time Fred was just seen as so cute and quirky for everything she did while other times Wesley was not appreciated. Anytime Fred became upset or triggered over what happened to her she was comforted and emphasized with. When she was rescued from Pylea she was given space and everyone worked with her and tried to help her. Anytime Wesley talked about his dad he was looked at as strange or talked to in such a casual manor (because the characters were so bluntly blind to his abuse (i.e when he killed his not-dad in season five). Even when he was clearly feeling a certain way after the events in “Lineage” Angel and Spike treated it as if it was no big deal and I get the assumption that when Wesley killed his not-dad it was more about protecting Fred rather then freeing himself (which is what it should have fucking been about. This man literally stood in front of him and said “don’t make me shoot you,” and I wonder how many threats were made on Wesley’s life for him to not be stunned by that.)

I will however say that when Wesley got shot he was well loved and cared for. This was, of course pre-Fred and pre-Conner but was looked after during this time (by this two best friends I might add who ended up fucking losing completely to the mess that is season 3).

Another thing I've gathered from the grapevine is that it appears losing Fred was somehow a breaking point for Wesley (but also everyone else too) and I would really like to fucking understand why. Fred is beloved, I get that but at the same time they also lost Cordelia who was very loved and had some so far as a person - and as for Wesley that man has been through some fucking shit, but why is losing Winifred some make or break for him?? Wesley literally lost his entire family because of what happened, he had his throat cut and was literally fucking dying as some homeless man dragged him into the bushes before stealing his money. He was so cut off from everyone and pretty much had the metaphorical door slammed in his face - unless of course he was needed - and I know I talk about the park scene a lot, and I know fans get mad over what Wesley did they're entitled to feel that way, of course, but at the same time - no one is going to be more mad at Wesley then the self-loathing man himself. He knows he screewed up.

On top of that, Angel, everyone's literal champion, went to the hospital and tried to fucking kill him. And a lot of people point out how Wesley never apologized for what he did, but when Angel apologized for what he did it was literally only because he needed something. And everyone was so wrapped around Angel's dick and what he wanted so nothing could be mended, mind you, this was also the man that signed them off to work for the literal Devil without their consent. Now, I get he was doing it for his son and that's admirable- he's just a tired dad trying to do his very best - but you literally didn't have to drag everyone else with you (especially since the only reason Wesley was there in the first place was to give Lilah peace he believed she deserved for her suffering. Show me a greater act of true love and I'll shut the fuck up.)

Wesley lost his best friend to the higher powers (his friendship with Gunn was so long gone at this point) and the love of his life (because the only time Wesley wasn't so wrapped up in Fred was when he was grieving Lilah) but somehow Fred had to be the be all end all. Even in his death he couldn't escape it and it still had to be about Fred and being lied to and being with her. I see a lot of fans talk about how he was in love with the idea of Fred and being a hero and getting the girl and finally being loved but in reality all those things Wesley thinks heroes get in the end are a fantasy. He's not going to be loved, Angel is not going to get over Conner and his dad is never going to love and respect him as a human being. In fact, I feel like the only thing Wesley had to resemble being a hero was the fact that he died in the end. I mean, of course he was a good person and did his best and he did help people and save them - but at the same time he went through so much shit just to die in the very end and he couldn't even have that to himself.

The Writers liked to put on this face of Wesley being happy when he sees Fred doing her little speech, and it could have easily been about missing his friends and missing people he was close to but we know that's not the case. Not only that, but Wesley went through something so traumatic and you can't always some back from that. He was literally so changed from what happened to him and he was never the same (he literally reminds me of Bruce Wayne in so many ways with the trauma and the turtlenecks and the stone facial expressions; they literally are the same person only Bruce hates guns). Even when he came back into the group or went to work for W&H and everything was erased. Yet somehow Fred just has to be what keeps him connected to something more human... and I really can't understand why when The Writers (I mean, obviously to hurt Wesley because they don't value him) would even want Wesley to be with someone who is so nasty to him.

Fred was understanding when her and Gunn were ransacking Wesley's apartment (which they didn't even clean up by the way) yet, to his face she told him never to come back and also didn't even look at him when she talked about the prophecy being false and everything being a waste of time. Telling Wesley how wrong he was but literally everyone makes mistakes (Angel literally said Conner had been smelling like food and fucking told no one until he had a meltdown). Wesley during that time was just mentally going through it and he didn't think he could tell anyone and did everything he thought he could do - and then for Fred to be upset with him for fucking being with Lilah when he was literally so alone and she was the only one to give him a crumb of human decency. She really only bothered him about the job once and every time they talked you could tell how much they really bounced off one another.

Fred was also the only one who was so mean to him after Lilah's death when he was being vulnerable and trying to open up to her. Now again, this is partly The Writers who think it's okay to compare Wesley's consensual relationship with Lilah to Not-Cordelia sleeping with Conner (which was basically Conner being raped by his unborn woman child using his mother's body), which is disgusting, but also for Fred to fucking roll her eyes and try to gaslight Wesley and his emotions when he's being vulnerable. Again, something I bitch about a lot but it's only because I know what it's like to be that person being vulnerable to their friends, only to have said friends literally roll their eyes and dismiss my feelings - it's disgusting. Wesley had literally just lost Lilah and had no one to talk to about it but he tried *twice* with two people who used to be his closest friends. But I guess that is just more of a way to affirm how Lilah is for Wesley (despite the fact that she is literally perfect for him but I don't know if I want to get into that now).

I feel like Angel never got over Conner (it being mentioned in season five) and that is what it is - I get it, but at the same time I'm also so bothered by the fact that Wesley is always going to have this big terrible thing hung over him. Gunn also made a huge mistake but that was what is was, a mistake and okay because "Gunn is a good person" (and I'm okay with that, I'm in no way trying to shit on Gunn but I am aware there was controversy surround this back when the show was on). However, I have an issue with Wesley having to be so punished for his mistake when others are empathized with. And I know what happened with Holtz was about Angelus and that Angel has a soul and he is good - but this is also the vampire with a soul who tried to fucking suffocate Wesley to death. It doesn't feel fair to entirely blame Angel for Angelus's actions against Holtz's family's, However, that's still a huge part of his past, and not everyone is going to have empathy and compassion for you just because you have a soul. I'm not trying to say that as a way to excuse Wesley's mistake but I feel that so much is always put on Wesley and him alone.

I'm sorry this post is so long and messy. I was going to spend a little bit of time talking about his relationship with Lilah, however, I want this to be more about Wesley as an individual - so I'll shut up here and save that conversation for the tags.

This was four pages long in google docs, why can't I write my fanfiction like that?

[lovemikage]

𝘽𝙀𝘿 𝘾𝙃𝙀𝙈 : 𝙢𝙚𝙜𝙪𝙧𝙪 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙧𝙖 𝙭 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧 ( 𝙛𝙩. 𝙞𝙨𝙖𝙜𝙞 )

summary: you confess to your boyfriend bachira you think his best friend isagi is cute. he decides to do some meddling of his own. wc: 1.4k warnings: fem!reader, dub-conish (reader isn't aware isagi is there oops), humiliation, praise, gratuitous dialogue a/n: hello hello beautiful people ! this is my submission for @ficsforgaza 's kinktober event, with the prompt bachira & humiliation ! please check out the other writers + fics if they tickle your fancy. i have not written smut like this in ... a year, i think, so please be gentle with me. hope you love it, please comment & rb if you do ! credit to @/cafekitsune for the beautiful mdni divider !

" he feels the same, you know. i don’t know why you were so secretive. "

your eyes, previously squeezed shut, fly open, and every muscle that had been turned into jelly from your recent orgasm tenses up immediately. you shift with the intention to move away from your boyfriend, but it’s in vain – bachira’s large palm and long fingers splay against your pelvis, pushing you down into the bed. it doesn’t hurt, nothing with bachira ever does, but it’s insistent in the same way his fingers circling your clit are. 

" what do you – ah! – m-meguru, what do you m-mean? " you know what he means, you’re unsure why you’re asking. bachira doesn’t mind, though, he always loves to tell a story. 

“ well – " his tone is sing-song, sickly sweet, and it’s clear he’s having way more fun than he should be ( than you think he should be, anyway ). a lithe finger pushes its way through your folds to slip inside of you, and your hips buck at the same time you whine – too much, not yet, still sensitive. he won’t listen, “ remember that one time you told me ‘sagi was cute? then played it off like you were joking? you were right, by the way, so don’t think i’m mad, promise i’m not. but it got me thinking – "

one finger turns to two and the burn makes you squeeze your eyes shut again. it’s nothing compared to the stretch of his cock, but enough to make you just that little bit uncomfortable. it doesn’t help that you’re so on edge, “ bachira – "

“ shhhhh. anyway, it got me thinking, you know? he’d never admit it ‘cause he’s my best friend, but i know he thinks you’re cute. " the look you give him has his head shaking, “ don’t talk! i’m not done – i remembered, when we first met you he called dibs. you liked me more – obviously – so that didn’t matter, just a funny joke after the fact. regardless, i had the idea to … well, i was eavesdropping on you the other day – "

an indignant sound leaves you and you squirm more; bachira sighs, lets his golden eyes flick down to your ankle, pretty pink panties dangling from them. quickly he pauses, uses the hand on your hips to pick it up. you whimper, both from the loss of movement inside of you and because you know what he’s about to do, you’ve had enough sex throughout the course of your relationship ( more than normal, according to your friends ). you’re proved right when he taps the side of your cheek, prompting you to open up – you do, ever-obedient, despite the red-hot humiliation burning in your cheeks. cotton presses between your lips and fills your mouth, your whine becomes muffled. bachira beams, “ there we go. always so good for me, hm? “ another pat to your cheek. your eyes start to water – you feel like a prized showdog or something. 

“ much better. " you fight the urge to roll your eyes; it doesn’t last long because bachira’s back to hovering next to you, his shadow imposing. you feel vulnerable, exposed and open for whatever he wants to do. right now, it seems like all he wants to do is make you cum in the most embarrassing way possible. he scissors his fingers and grins when you cry out, big and goofy and too lighthearted for what he’s talking about, “ back to what i was saying – i was eavesdropping on you and your friends the other night. sue me, i’m curious. heard you talking about him – agreeing when one of them said he’s hot, you know, stuff like that. kept it in the back of my mind for later. but then – yesterday, when i came home, i got here earlier than you thought i did. found you. ” 

your mind races in an attempt to figure out where your boyfriend is going with all of this. yesterday, yesterday – oh. oh my god. 

“ you’re so cute when you moan, you know? i know i always tell you, but i can’t help it. so pretty, just like – " bachira curls his fingers, lets them brush against that sweet, spongy spot inside of you that makes you see stars, eliciting a low, muffled moan, “ – that. you were doing that, saying my name, like always. i was just about ready to go in when i heard his, too. s’when i realized it was time. "

the tears previously welling up fall, now. big, fat droplets running down your face, taking your mascara with them and smearing the pretty makeup you’d done for your date tonight. you feel pathetic, like you’d been caught. it makes sense, now; you thought you had heard him come in before he announced himself, but it didn’t make sense, so you brushed it off. now you realize he had just gone back out and made a point of announcing his entrance the second time. you want to look away in embarrassment but bachira won’t let you, his fingers picking up their pace at the same time he grips your chin in his hand. combined with the panties stuffing your mouth, you can’t say what you want to – i’m sorry, i’m sorry, it doesn’t mean anything, i’m sorry. 

what’s worse is it all feels so good, bachira’s fingers pumping inside of you at an almost dizzying pace, thumb carefully circling your clit with just enough pressure to make all thoughts leave your head. you can feel your orgasm fast approaching, a knot in your tummy threatening to unravel. it always amazes you, how bachira knows just how to make you fall apart within seconds. he knows you inside and out, could take you apart and put you back together again. sometimes you think he’d probably like to. 

in your panicked state, though, you hadn’t realized what he said – it’s time. time for what?

wide, wet eyes, embarrassed and earnest all at once, meet bachira’s own – tender, loving, with that bit of mischief behind them. the eyes you love so much. 

as always, he seems to read your mind, and his soft, fond smile turns to another shit-eating grin. his fingers don’t stop their pace when he speaks again, “ thought i’d ask him to join us. you’d like that, wouldn’t you baby? oh – " his words break off into a moan, his collected exterior cracking if only for a moment. the way you clench around him tells him everything he needs to know. 

not like he’d just take that as an answer, though. 

“ she likes that, huh? pretty pussy needs two cocks to be satisfied. i know, i know, s’okay – we just need to make sure that you want it. i need to make sure you want it. don’t needa use your words, you know that. be good for me, baby, like you always are. ”

you break, then – you gush around the fingers digging deep inside of you, your eyes blown wide, glazed over from his sweet talk. all embarrassment melts away, your brain mush. while your legs shake and your hips buck you nod, almost wildly, whining and crying around the intrusion in your mouth while bachira fucks you through it all. you do want isagi here, you want them both, you want – everything, really. your hand grips his arm so hard you’re sure you’re leaving nail marks, pulling him close in what you can only describe as an attempt to make him a part of you. your bachira. 

“ fuck this. you’re an asshole, bachira. can’t believe you made me fucking watch. i’ll be there in ten. ”

you freeze, snapped out of subspace in an instant. you register a lot of things, then – how hard bachira is against your leg, cock thick and heavy and leaking; how that voice definitely belonged to isagi, irritated and gruff; and how bachira’s no longer grinning at you but at the laptop set up on his desk. the one you’d thought was off. 

“ don’t be mad. ” again, bachira knows you, which is why he says it the second the call drops. you’re too embarrassed to speak, just looking at him dumbfounded and still fucked out from your previous orgasms, “ and don’t try to clean up. he’ll be sad if it’s not messy. ”

you shut your eyes to try and push away the humiliation. there’s a pause from your boyfriend, and while you can’t see him, you can feel him slinking down the bed, making himself comfortable between your thighs. you crack an eye open to see him looking up at you, almost pleading, “ think you can give me one more? pleaseeeee. he’s gonna hog you when he gets here! ”

you can’t do much else but nod, accepting your fate. it was what you wanted, after all.

[aalghul]

damian is clearly biased in his misinterpretation of jason in boy wonder

damian's interpretation is supported by the story itself; it is clear that you are not meant to take it as a misinterpretation. the hostage narrator (who isn't damian) establishes dick, jason and tim as being nice, angry and reckless, and smart (respectively) in the first issue. nothing is done from then on to either challenge or add depth to any of these.

ignoring both damian and that narrator, even the story itself proves the mindless "nice robin, angry robin, smart robin" categorization. dick's issue even goes so far as to misconstrue his conflict with bruce when he was 18 as being, essentially, "dick wanted bruce to be nicer". jason's status as the reckless robin is reinforced when the comic spells out for the readers that jason (and damian) need batman to supervise them, otherwise they will not think anything through and instead attack like animals. jason's recklessness could not be made clearer by the writer.

this ends with jason hallucinating the joker (surprise, surprise) and then he just starts randomly shooting (which is something he is prone to do when the joker is involved, apparently. under the red hood and lost days, and all of jason's deliberation and planning regarding the joker, must have just been mass hallucinations that all of us had) and damian ends up shot. once again, jason hurts an innocent person because another writer doesn't have the reasoning skills to come up with a logical argument against jason using guns/killing, so they need to create a specific instance (which would be unlikely to happen were he written in character) in order to counteract his entire methodology.

rather than challenging the characterization of jason where anger is most structurally vital to his actions, the story repeatedly defends it. to the point where jason himself brings up the anger instead of anything else. the writer goes a step further and has jason's anger blind him enough to kill the murderers of a victim who did not want jason to avenge him in blood. jason is himself motivated by the perspective of a victim who wants to choose what is done to avenge him, it's senseless to have him ignore the wishes without any internal conflict.

the ending of this issue is literally damian telling jason that jason is the only person standing between himself and reconciliation with bruce. this implication existed in the beginning of the issue as well, with the narrator claiming that jason's gripe with the joker being alive was pointless because the joker's locked up, regardless of the fact that jason first found out joker was still alive when he saw that joker had escaped and hurt people again.

so. there is no misinterpretation. you're supposed to nod along and agree. jason is angry and reckless, and he ends the issue ruminating on the thought that he should made amends with bruce, who has been freed from any responsibility by this point.

[crackedhrglass]

i got this ask on my strawpage and was gonna type it up in my notes app and post it to twitter, but i really couldn't figure out a way to say it concisely, so i'm answering it here bc it's prob gonna be long lol.

do i think stancest is actually canon? simply put, no. despite how often i'm like "STANCEST IS CANON!!" i truly don't think that AH and the writers intended stan & ford's relationship to be seen through an incestuous lens.

their relationship is def the heart of the show, second only to dipper & mabel's own bond. they are the center of each other's worlds, their story & character arcs revolve almost entirely around each other, and their happy ending is literally the two of them sailing off into the sunset to spend "the rest of their days" together (ford says this almost word-for-word in journal 3).

but i still don't think all of that was meant to be taken romantically.

in my opinion, where things start to get a little weird is, surprisingly enough, ford's relationship with bill.

the rest is under a cut bc HOLY SHIT this got longer than i expected.

there's no denying that bill was written to deliberately parallel stan in a number of ways, from his mannerisms, to his conman status, to the fact that he calls ford the same name stan did when they were kids.

he's written in a very intentional way that makes him serve as both stan's parallel and his foil, especially in their respective relationships to ford (bill feeds into ford's ego and encourages him to aspire for greatness alone, stan has always been a direct obstacle & challenge to ford's ego, accidentally ruining his chances at WCT & encouraging him to live out their childhood dream together; bill valued infinite power over his own family and destroyed his dimension as a result, stan valued his family over everything, and saved ford and his dimension as a result).

normally, this wouldn't be that big of a deal to a stancest shipper like myself. but as the book of bill & the accompanying website all but confirmed in big, flashing neon lights, ford & bill have a romantic history and are exes.

having the two people closest to ford be compared to one another is one thing. having ford be drawn to bill because of how similar he is to the brother he secretly misses is one thing.

having ford be romantically involved with said character is what makes me raise an eyebrow lol.

again, do i think ford is literally a brocon who's got repressed sexual/romantic feelings for stan?

no.

i do, however, think he has unresolved Brother Issues that led him to subconsciously find comfort in a romantic partner that reminded him of stan (right down to bill calling him stan's nickname for him) in much the same way a person with "daddy issues" may seek out affection & intimacy from someone who reminds them of their father (or is just "fatherly" in general).

that much, i believe, was actually intentional. it's just too blatant to not be lol. it'd be a completely different story if either

bill & stan were nothing alike (untrue) or

ford & bill's relationship was strictly platonic and didn't have any romantic implications (also untrue)

i've said this before, but this isn't just a case of "oh, ford fell in love with someone who just coincidentally reminds him of his brother." bill's use of the nickname "sixer" during their first encounter was a deliberate attempt at appealing to a part of ford that was repressed, vulnerable, and aching, in order to get ford's guard down and make it easier for ford to trust him, and it worked.

billford is a ship that, to put it bluntly, would not exist without ford's buried feelings for stan, even disregarding shipping/incest/etc. ford's desire to be close to stan even platonically is what allowed bill to needle his way into ford's heart in the first place.

and all of this wouldn't be that weird if, again, bill hadn't continued to feed into ford's longing for stan even after they'd established a romantic relationship, by still calling him "sixer" and trying to permanently sever the relationship he had with stan specifically, once he and ford broke up (the phone call he tried to make while in ford's body that was described in tbob).

to put it another way, imagine if wendy was basically an older, taller mabel, or if any of mabel's crushes were eerily similar to dipper. people in the fandom would def take notice and view it as a little strange. so i don't get how people can look at ford dating someone so blatantly and intentionally similar to stan and think to themselves "ah yes, this is normal. ford is completely Normal and definitely doesn't have any underlying issues whatsoever" lmao

to conclude: no, i don't think ford & stan's relationship is actually canonically romantic, nor do i think ford falling in love with bill was incestuous, necessarily.

but i do think that he had a desperate longing to reconcile with stan buried DEEEEEEP down, and it manifested itself in the form of being attracted to bill, which is probably why he never bothered correcting bill's use of the nickname "sixer" since their very first meeting, or ever expressed that it made him uncomfortable.

[recent-rose]

heres the thing abt kairi. i don't think she's poorly written, i think she's poorly executed. like there's a conflict/lack of cohesive vision for her and they're trying to shoehorn her into a role she does not fit.

nomura, from kh1, has clearly always wanted kairi to remain a link to the past/manifestation of fond memories of childhood/like a bittersweet hometown that isn't quite the same when you come back as an adult. that's the role he has consistently, persistently assigned to her. and there's nothing wrong with that. not every character ever has to take an active role and be a hero and do Things. sometimes characters exist to embody an allegory, or symbolism, or an idea. that was kairi, initially. embodiment of home, safety, comfort, childhood. for that matter, riku was the future, the unknown, growing up and letting childhood go. sora, of course, a boy coming of age and being torn between the two.

so consequently i've never understand the choice to make her a keyblade wielder when she's already a princess of heart twice over. like it or not the princesses of heart have an established role in the story and it's not fighting on the front lines. she could have been a leader and taken an active role in her own way if they really wanted, without ever needing to hold a keyblade and be a Chosen One, Also!(tm). in this way she also would have maintained a cohesive narrative role in the story. her path would still be diverging from sora's, and it would be as bittersweet and nostalgic as it was in kh1 without the clownery than her involvement in endgame kh2 onward has been mired in.

what clownery, you ask? kairi literally cannot grow as a person while in sora's orbit. we've seen it happen again and again, any growth she gets is away from sora and any time she's near him she regresses as a character. this is because, again, she is absolutely cemented in the minds of the writers as The Nostalgic Past that sora is holding onto. in the context of the kh narrative, she can literally be nothing else to him. there's no more growth to be had between them. hence, every time their relationship ends up the focus in a scene you can't help but feel the rapidly growing distance between where they once were vs where they now are as individuals. this relationship can, imo, ONLY be regressive to both of them in the context of kh's overarching narrative where kairi is constantly (and overtly) being framed as Sora's Idealized Childhood. or, as a prize he 'wins' when the story ends. the two are fairly connected in kh.

back on track, having kairi remain a princess of heart and not a keyblade wielder also would've solved the problem of the writing team having to shelve/fridge her every time they want riku+sora to go on another romantic getawa - uhhh adventure together. like she was asleep for a year post kh3? and now she's going to train with aqua while riku goes to rescue the love of his l - i mean bestest best boy friend again? you're joking.

it just stinks of trying to girlbossify a character so she can 'keep up' with her male counterparts in the eyes of media illiterate consumers who associate a lack of a weapon with a lack of power. dawg we're past that. female characters can be relevant, important, interesting and powerful without following in the exact footsteps of their male counterparts. and this is to say nothing of kairi's keyblade bequeathing being a relative accident and how it creates a pretty glaring plot hole because somehow xion and roxas, sora's nobodies, can wield keyblades at will but namine can't? okay. yes, perhaps we just haven't been 'shown' her wielding a keyblade. maybe. but i think it seriously indicates that they had no intention of making kairi a keyblade wielder in the first place.

and don't get me wrong, if they intended on changing/overhauling her role going forward i would understand making her not just a wielder but a guardian of light. problem is, they have already established she's not going to be fighting/active in the next game. she is, yet again, the home they are returning to and not the future they're moving towards. this, consequently, will continue causing some major tonal dissonance among those who either consciously or unconsciously recognize that kairi is not meant to be where she is currently placed in the narrative. she's SHOWN to be just a regular girl who still to this day does not particularly want to go adventuring, and yet we're TOLD again and again that she's a warrior now, riding on sora and riku's coattails regrettably. it's just so tonally off.

[mollysunder]

For once I actually went through the Arcane AMA and found those quotes about Silco's motivation. It's kind of wild to see it in full context.

First, I didn't even know the "dirty little thing" insecurity was an agreed upon perspective, I just thought it was one writer's opinion but no, Christian Linke (Praeco) let us know that was Silco's thing. Ok. I can see how that can tie in to how Silco and Jinx connected, personal insecurities from a hard life.

But then Amanda Overton (leeloo104) goes into detail.

I already know the creative team said they don't think political struggle is "relatable" (yikes), but I've never seen this extra tidbit before!

What do you mean this all so Vander will respect Silco again?!!??!? First of all I could really go in about how Arcane's team seem incapable of having any character fully articulate an actual in-depth explanation about on their grievances with the status quo and what changes should be applied that isn't somehow about familial validation. *looks at Jinx*

Instead, we need unpack how this motivation is at best, very weird, or flat out doesn't make sense. The quote makes it sound like Zaun was fully Silco's idea to win back Vander's love and respect, but Silco said a free Zaun was their shared dream. And regaining Vander's respect seems like a moot point when Silco killed Vander.

Unless Silco knows Vander isn't dead, and that Singed's been slowly turning Vander into Warwick. But then why does he talk to the Vander statue like Vander is dead? I don't doubt Silco wouldn't visit Warwick even in Warwick's confused state. Either way, the Vander that Silco wanted to receive validation from doesn't exist anymore.

I get that they probably wanted to connect Silco's motivation to Jinx's obsession with Vi, but that can be problematic too! It just ends up where Silco and Jinx are written in a way where their search for emotional validation takes precedence over any attempt for them to communicate a coherent and detailed observation on the surrounding politics of their environment.

It would be one thing if they were minor characters, or this was just related to Jinx because she's the youngest in the cast and her story is about understanding who she is. But it's both of them, Silco's at least in his forties, and they're a part of the main cast. On top of that, I'd say their the two most politically influential Zaunites in the cast, and we know NOTHING about what they stand for, what they think the future should look like. Nothing, just vibes.

[little-diable]

I Remember Everything - Tommy Shelby (smut)

Written for my lovely @runnning-outof-time - I hope this is what you had in mind with this story. Inspired by Zach Bryan's song "I Remember Everything". Please like and reblog if you enjoyed reading this, your comments keep us writers motivated! Enjoy my loves. xxx

Summary: Tommy only smiles when he gets to drink, (y/n) only dares to marvel at her best friend when he’s distracted. A rising sun and moments shared since childhood days finally bring the two closer together.

Warnings: 18+, piv smut, quite soft smut, friends to lovers, some angst because of family troubles, mentions that the reader didn’t have an easy past but nothing specific

Pairing: Tommy Shelby x fem!reader (about 2.5k words)

An eerie silence wrapped itself around the two. His piercing eyes kept staring at the almost empty glass of his, trying to burn holes into the shards that could easily cut his aching heart. She wanted to speak up, wanted to break through the silence that grew thicker like soldiers moving closer with their unbreakable shield wall, but she couldn’t.

She watched him pour alcohol down his throat, one glass after another, desperately trying to drown his pain, his guilt, his anger in one of the devil’s finest creations. Her mouth was dry, throat tight, unable to speak to the man she longed for, desperately trying to soothe his pain.

It had always been like this, ever since they’ve been young children. He’d keep his every sorrow bottled in, relying on his closest friend to take away the pain he couldn’t get rid of without her help. Tommy Shelby was a good man, a man with a pure heart and too much blood sticking to his fingers, but Tommy Shelby was also a blind man, an overly oblivious man, not seeing through the pain (y/n) had to carry around with herself, unable to rely on the friend who could only worry about his business.

Whenever the ship he was sailing through uneasy waters was close to sinking, wood soaked through like the fabric tied to the high mast, she’d sail next to him, dragging him through every storm he found himself trapped in. Though while he mistook it for simple coincidences, allowing her to turn up whenever he needed him, she grew more uneasy by the minute, wondering how much longer she’d be able to keep up this charade.

“You see, Tommy.” She cleared her throat, fingers interlaced in her lap as if she was about to start praying. “You know by now that I’ll do whatever I can to help you, that’s what you called me here for after all, I guess. But I can’t help if you don’t tell me what happened.”

A humourless laugh left the man who forced yet another cigarette between his lips, lips (y/n) found herself aching for whenever she got the time to marvel at the handsome man. Fuck, she wished she didn’t remember every moment on the days and nights she spent with him, and yet she couldn’t get rid of them, forced into her memories like the languages she had once been forced to learn, speaking them all too effortlessly by now.

“Do you remember how we’d sneak out at night to watch the sunrise?” Her soft voice filled the room once again, finally managing to force a smile onto his lips. To others it was an unfamiliar sight, Tommy Shelby wasn’t one to smile around others, wasn’t one to give away the emotions he found himself guided by, but with her it had always been different, with her it had always been transparent, well, besides the emotions both fostered for one another, unable to act on them. “Come.”

(Y/n) rose to her feet, hand stretched out for Tommy to take. It took him a moment to rise to his feet, cigarettes and alcohol long forgotten as she guided him out into the cold night. No words were spoken as he wrapped his arm around her middle, keeping her close in an almost too protective matter. Her heart pounded in her chest, a tad bit too fast, and yet slow enough to keep the way he made her feel hidden from his sharp gaze and his curious ears.

Both knew the route to that one empty house by heart, they’d always find their way to it, no matter where in the city they were staying at. But today both didn’t walk with fast steps, no, today they took their time, not wanting to let the passing by seconds turn into minutes and hours all too quickly.

“I’ve always wondered how you could so easily trust and help people you meet. It’s like a gift, a talent I can’t help but be jealous of.” Tommy’s soft voice cut through the fog of silence, tightening his grip on (y/n) as her eyes met his. The sounds of their steps echoed through the night, through the almost empty streets they’ve been waking for years. “You’ve been hurt, beaten, and abused. I’ve once sworn that I’ll kill whoever dares to touch you, and yet you managed to forgive them, each and every one of them. How?”

“Who is it, Tommy? What happened?” The two came to a halt in front of the old brick house as he let go of her to push his weight against the wooden door. It took him a few tries to finally open it, allowing them to step into the dark house. Tommy ignored her question, keeping quiet as they walked up the stairs, one by one, climbing higher like lost souls walking the stairs to a new life. But nothing new was awaiting the two up there, nothing but a still somewhat dark sky.

“You know, you’ve changed a lot, you’ll never be the man that you always swore, Tommy, but I know you’re no stranger to forgiveness. I think you’re afraid of it, whatever it is that plagues your mind.” The two entered the roof - with another cigarette placed between his lips and his fingers aching for yet another glass, Tommy walked closer to the edge of the familiar ground. She watched the smoke leave his nostrils, blown into the night like the lives he had taken over the past years, rising numbers that evaporated into the thin air, forgotten names and fates they no longer recalled.

“There’s nothing to be afraid of, not when you know that you’re being betrayed, not when you know that those you should trust the most are trying to sell your life to the highest bidder.” A sharp inhale of the cold air was sucked into (y/n)’s lungs, arms wrapped around herself as she stepped closer to him. With her eyes set on the horizon, on the rising sun, she placed her chin on his shoulder, not daring to move. For a few more moments they cherished the quietness, watching the sky turn into the rawest colours known to humankind.

Tommy’s hand found hers, resting on his shoulder like it had done numerous times before. Slowly he turned towards (y/n), hand finding her chin to keep her eyes on him. (Y/n) always felt naked beneath his gaze, trying to cover up as if she was scared that her body would tell him all about the love she fostered for him. But Tommy didn’t give her the chance to move, thumb softly stroking her cold skin.

Both couldn’t help but ache for one another, though keeping quiet - even as (y/n) nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck. His hand found the back of her head, softly stroking her hair, eyes focused on the orange sky. Whenever he had found the strength to speak up, he had begged (y/n) to stay around till the sun would rise, needing to hold her close like a life vest meant to save him. She was everything he wished he didn’t ache for but desperately did.

“I love you, Tommy. No matter what, I’ll always be there for you.” She pressed a kiss to his throat, making his eyes flutter close at the unexpected gesture.

“Don’t make promises like that, (y/n). I’m no good friend, I’m selfish for keeping you around, but you’re the only good thing keeping me sane.” (Y/n) pushed him away to get a look at his features, all too used to the pain swimming in Tommy's bright pupils. She cupped his face with both hands, keeping the man close as she shook her head, wondering how she could explain to him that he was all she needed.

“We both know that’s not true, you’re my best friend, I’d die for you in a heartbeat, and I know you’d do the same for me.” Tommy gently pushed her hands away, eyes fluttering close for a second before a scoff left him. His hand rubbed his tired eyes, trying to hold back the words that no longer could be stopped from rolling off his tongue.

“Best friend, fuck, I wish that’d be enough for me, but it no longer is. I’ve been stupid, keeping my mouth shut for your own sake, but everything is burning around me, what loss will it be if I add more fuel to the flames, eh?” She didn’t understand what he was talking about, eyebrows furrowed, lips slightly parted. With dilated pupils (y/n) watched him step closer once again, cupping her cheek with one hand, while the other found her neck.

His warm breath clashed against her tingling lips, wondering what he was about to do. They didn’t break eye contact, wondering who’d start moving first. (Y/n) felt her heart pounding, racing in her chest as her mind slowly began to realise what was about to happen. His lips found hers, kissing (y/n) slowly to give her the chance to pull away should she want to escape from this moment. But she didn’t, she was frozen to the ground, lips moving in sync with Tommy’s.

The sky looked as if it was burning, the flames kept rising higher, setting their bodies ablaze with its strength. Their moans rippled through them, echoing through the early morning like shots being fired in the distance. Tommy tasted of cigarettes, of the alcohol he had forced down his throat an hour ago, while (y/n) tasted of home, of a feeling so unfamiliar Tommy found himself addicted within moments.

Both broke the kiss with aching lungs, needing to catch their breath as he pressed his forehead against hers. Neither Tommy nor (y/n) dared to speak up, relishing in one another’s touch. Their bodies moved them down the stairs of the house, into the morning, with interlaced fingers and intertwined souls. He guided her back through the streets, finding their way to her apartment, to the home she had bought years ago and couldn’t dare to think of parting from it ever again.

“Tommy?” (Y/n) whispered his name as they shrugged out of their coats and stepped out of their shoes, finding back together at the first chance to move. “What does this mean?" She gestured between the both of them, staring at Tommy as if he was God himself, about to answer her every question. "I love you, but I can’t just be an easy distraction for you.”

“I love you more than I’ll ever be able to express with words, with gifts, with gestures. You’re my home, (y/n). I once swore to always protect you, eh? I won’t hurt you, I promise.” He kissed her once again, allowing her gleeful chuckles to vibrate on his lips as she guided him into her bedroom, begging Tommy to show her how much he loved her, needing to feel him close.

“You’ll be the death of me, Tommy Shelby, what would my mother say when she’d see us like this?” His skilled fingers popped open the buttons of her dress one by one, letting the dark fabric fall to the ground as he pushed it down her shoulders.

“She’d force me to come to church with her, she’d wash my hands with holy water and would try to hide me away from your father. I'd probably be shipped off to some monastery, forced to become a priest. My eternal punishment for blemishing her daughter's soul.” (Y/n)‘s loud laugh echoed through her bedroom, a sound that was swallowed by her moans seconds later as he kissed her neck, pulling her into his chest. Her fingers started moving, freeing him of his vest, his shirt, and his trousers. Both were in a hurry to get one another naked, not wanting to give the fabrics keeping them apart any more time to distract them.

“Make me yours, forever.” Her sultry voice left the man groaning, pushing her down on her bed as he crawled up her frame, nestling between her thighs. Their kiss grew hungrier, sloppier as his hand moved down her frame, stroking her breasts, teasing her hardening nipples before he finally found her aching core. She was soaked, dripping for the man who found himself smiling down on her. It was unfamiliar to her, seeing him smile without any alcohol near, and yet (y/n) couldn’t help but pray that she’d get to see this smile more often from now on.

“I’ve always wondered if I’d eventually get to see you like this, bare for me, for my eyes only. But this is better than I could have ever imagined.” Tommy’s praises left her gasping, eyes fluttering close as he circled her clit with his fingers, making her hyperaware of his every touch.

“Need you inside of me, Tommy, please. We’ve wasted too much time already.” A hum left him as he let go of her, pumping his cock for a few seconds before he spat down on it, lubing himself up. With one of her arms finding it’s way around his neck and her legs clinging to his waist, Tommy allowed himself to push into her, slowly, carefully.

Her walls pulsed around him, begging him to build a comfortable rhythm. Their bodies met with every thrust, pushed closer and closer together as they shared the love they felt without any words being spoken. Their bodies perfectly moved together, pushing them higher and higher with every thrust, with every moment where he pressed against her swollen spot, with every circling motion around her pulsing bundle of nerves.

Neither of them had ever experienced something this raw, something this full of emotions, something this intimate. No matter how many times they’ve been touched by lovers, strangers, and those they no longer could remember, it had never been this intense, this raw, this exciting.

“You’re so big, stretching me so good, don’t ever stop Tommy, don’t ever let me go, keep me forever.” Her whispers were torn between sobs and moans, a sound so beautiful Tommy wanted to record it, to keep it stored in his memories like the first time he had heard his son laugh. His lips found hers, sealing the promise with a loving kiss.

His pace grew rougher, chasing both their arising highs, set on pushing one another over the edge within the next moments. (Y/n) gave in first, eyes rolling back into her head, forcing her fingernails to scratch at his skin, leaving marks down his muscular back. He kept fucking her, forcing his cock to disappear deeper and deeper inside of her till his orgasm clawed through him, painting her walls white.

“I love you.” Her words left him smiling, letting go of her to reach for a tissue. Tommy took his time with cleaning her up before he pulled her into his chest, cradling her closer and closer.

“I’ll get you a ring in the afternoon.” She froze in his grasp, confused eyes flickering up to his. An almost boyish grin stuck to his lips, tilting his head down to kiss her slightly swollen lips. “You want forever, and I promise to give it to you, even if it’s the last promise I’ll be able to keep.”

I wish I didn't, but I do, remember every moment on the nights with you

[rifari2037]

What’s . , your Opinion On Katara. And Aang relationship, with each other.?

Short answer :

In my opinion, Katara and Aang's relationship would more beautiful and healthy as very good friends, because they support each other way better in friendship-relationship.

Long answer :

Kat/ang as couple wasn't build up with a good storyline even from the start. Their relationship felt and looked like siblings, Katara even acted motherly to him - many proof for that and the writers said so.

So, there's no reason for me to see them as lovers in the future but just supportive good friends with a crush. But a crush - even in real life - isn't a deep feeling and it's very easy to fade away. A strong feeling needs bond, chemistry, sometimes needs twist and turns to understand each other better and strengthen the foundation of their relationship.

Katara and Aang didn't have much chemistry, just physical contact (kisses on the cheek and hugs) and blushing. But for me, chemistry is not just about physical contact, chemistry and bond is about relationship development - it's Maiko problem as well.

Actually, the writers had so many opportunities to make Katara and Aang's relationship well-written - especially since the writers worship this ship - but instead they built up the conflicts between Aang and Katara in the last few episodes.

Well, at least, Aang and Katara's conflicts was resolved in season 1, but I can say that they were forced to end up together, even though their conflict wasn't resolved in season 3.

Conflict 1 : Aang kissed Katara without consent, then Katara acted like nothing happened in the next episode.

Conflict 2 : Aang yelled at Katara, even though she wasn't mocking him like the others, and she just wanted to help him, then they separated and there wasn't even a single conversation at all until they kissed in the end of the story.

Yes, the kiss was canon, but only because the writers forced it, not because Aang and Katara - both of them - deserved it.

The writers tried hard to keep Kat/ang as the winners in post ATLA. But, the more the writers fix Kat/ang the more the writers failed to make them better in their relationship, in fact the writers even ruined some of the characters - especially my lovely Katara, whose role was increasingly decreasing.

That would happen if two characters are forced to become lovers without being built with a good storyline and the writers don't care about female characters.

I don't read the comic and I don't want to read it. But I read quite a lot of criticism about it, especially how Katara's role was nothing more than just the Avatar's girlfriend.

Also, writing them calling each other 'sweetie' all the time is so cringe. I mean, look at Suki and Sokka, most people said they were the best canon pairing, I said the same. They never called each other 'sweetie', they called each other by name and they were still romantic.

Do you know what I felt when I saw this?

Katara sat alone in the corner, looked sad watching her boyfriend having fun with his fans. I could almost feel what Katara was feeling. Katara was angry, of course, but Aang couldn't understand her feelings. In the end, Katara was the one who understood Aang and let it go. Why is it always Katara who understands Aang? She deserved an apology!

Once again, the writers tried hard to keep Kat/ang as the winners in TLOK by writing them as a married couple with three children. Avatar's girlfriend changed to avatar's wife, but the writers still failed to convince people that Kat/ang was a healthy and happy couple.

Instead, Aang was written as a bad father who only favours his air bending child, while Katara had no role, no statue to honour her, and even her grandchildren didn't recognise her.

Actually, even though I am Zutara shipper, but sometimes I'm glad that they weren't canon. I mean, the writers worship Kat/ang but they failed to convince a lot of fans how good this pair - except the shipper only.

I can't imagine Zutara was canon while the writers hated it, the would ruin Zutara badly!

And since the writers are on board in The Avatar: The Last Airbender Movie next year, I'm guessing they'll try to win Kat/ang over (again) and I wouldn't be surprised if it fails (again).

That's why I'm not waiting for the movie.

Katara and Aang don't need to be lovers to be great characters, they can have a sweet relationship as friends and family. All the crush scenes between them could be removed and it wouldn't change the storyline one bit - maybe just annoy the shippers.

NATLA proved that. Aang and Katara had a family-relationship and it was very very sweet. NATLA removed all the scenes of Aang having a crush on Katara, even the Cave of the Two Lovers scene was replaced with Sokka and Katara. Did the main storyline changed? Not at all.

I once read an opinion from a Zutara shipper. The point is, when Aang and Katara are together, Katara has to stay away from Zuko (because their chemistry is stronger). It happened in TLOK, when Katara didn't show up to her granddaughter's coronation because Zuko was there.

Meanwhile, if Zuko and Katara are together, while Aang mature enough to accept his destiny, they will be forever great friends. He also will be a very very very sweet uncle and steam babies' favourite person. It happened in Zutara fanfics and fanart.

I agree 1000000%!!

[savannahsdeath]

SOCCER!ELLIE X CHEERLEADER!READER

PART 5FIVE aka; the epilogue

part 4four

warnings: minors safe !!🩷

writers note: finally the end ugh.. im not gonna lie, i hate how the whole 'series' (its too short to be called a series, but wtv) turned out, so im glad to finish it. though, im looking forward to make another fic with actual plot and not just smut, tho an abby one (i already have the epilogue written and im so so excited🤭)

you felt stupid. stupid, but mostly hurt. you couldn't understand why a small part of you wanted to believe that vi did nothing wrong. that small part of you wanted to end all of this, get on good terms with vi and be with ellie.

although, you weren't hurt by cheating itself. after all, you thought that's what happened for the past months, so you were already mentally prepared for that.

whatever.

⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂ ⠂⠄⠄⠂☆

you and ellie went through all the usual motions of a happy couple together, though not as an official couple yet. you spent time with each other and your friends, and you slowly forgot about the past and all the drama you had experienced.

you didn't forget about vi, though. you still felt guilty about the way you let her manipulate you like that. you could still hear her voice in your mind, telling you love isn't something you both have and, probably, never had.

you decided she shouldn't be a part of your life anymore, and you did your best to avoid her. she didn't know that you know, though it was obvious, since the rumours continued. you just didn't care anymore. not about her, at least.

ellie didn't speak much about the past, and you didn't either, because you felt like you didn't need to. the past was the past, and now you were looking forward to your future together.

you started thinking less and less about vi, soon managing to get her out of your mind for the whole day. not much, but after what happened, it was a big success. she was no longer a part of your life. ellie was, and that's all that mattered to you now.

you spent more and more time with her. you got to know her team better, returning the favor by taking her to your friend group's meeting.

you told luccy, your best friend, about the whole situation. it took you a good few hours to explain everything.

luccy listened to your entire story, impressed by the twists and turns it took. you could tell she was almost as surprised as you, her eyes widening with each sentence.

"well, no wonder you were so confused," she said politely, "but at least you have ellie now, and you seem happy together." she paused for a moment, before asking; "do you miss vi at all?"

you sighed and closed your eyes, imagining every good moment with her and comparing it to the happiness ellie brought you.

it was almost impossible to answer your friend's question.

on one hand, you had had great moments with vi, and you could even admit that you loved her.

and then there's ellie - which made you remember that your ex wasn't there for you when you needed it.

"no, i don't think so." you replied, ashamedly looking down. "ellie makes me feel like i never even truly loved vi."

────────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──────────────

i want to add some 'last words' about this fic, especially this part. a lot of you guys will probably be mad at me for not taking any revenge. but you, as the reader, have to understand that its not that easy. after being so hurt, after hearing so many lies, all you wanted was a normal relationship. a stable, honest and calm one. the one you got with ellie. you knew getting revenge would only complicate things - you probably wont be able to forget her at all once youd put salt on the wounds all over again. just the fact that she has to see you happy with ellie, while shes left alone, is enough. thanks to everyone who supported the series<3

TAGS: @wandasromanova @bellaramslover @aouiaa @glennns-blog @elliewilliamsfuckbuddy @iheartsadiesink @ximtiredx @coff1nn @jowdann @simpforellie @iveofficiallylostmymarbles @skylerwhitwyo @pinkigirl @islalips @ratdungeon @okayyesbutno @dinoastronaut @ucannotcompare @elyonz @lesbiantothemoonandback @lovejuliettq @param8re @r3wbeef and some more i cant tag for unknown reasons:(

[meraki-yao]

Ok I got four asks in my inbox about the new Nick interview and I'm actually mad. I'm actually livid and exasperated because I've been getting and answering similar asks over and over again, and yet people still come to me with the same statement and the same conviction EVEN AFTER I POINTED OUT EVERY FUCKING FACT THAT CONTRADICTS IT.

Do you really need a 19-year-old to teach you reading comprehension and media literacy?

Ok, fine.

Statement One: Nick doesn't appreciate RWRB, he's brushing it aside, which is why it wasn't mentioned in the New York Times

One: Editorials don't always portray the actual thoughts or agenda of the interviewee.

Unlike a video interview or a podcast interview where we can hear the whole conversation directly from Nick with his voice, and even if there are cuts and edits we can pick it up via visual or audio continuity, in a written editorial the only thing we can rely on is the writer's words, or in other words, the writer's paraphrase or quotation of what Nick said to him. This gives much bigger room for any changes or manipulation in content because we have nothing else to reference.

It is clear that in the past three editorials, the writer or the magazine itself has deliberately demeaning and devaluing RWRB. In NY Magazine, it was only mentioned in one line and degraded to "a queer take on a common straight trope" (see the choice of word "president's daughter"), with the implication being at its core, it's a straight story/ reliant on past straight stories to be interesting; Hunger Magazine calls it fujoshi-pleasing (fujoshi: Japanese slang, denoting how a straight woman who enjoys fictional gay content is "rotten", too ruined to be married, an insult to both the audience/fans and the movie itself ); and this time New York Magazine didn't even mention RWRB, when let's be honest, it's Nick's biggest breakout role.

"Once Is Chance, Twice is Coincidence, Third Time's A Pattern" this is deliberate. I can't say what the agenda is, my guess is some extent of latent homophobia, but it's clear that this is a fucking pattern. In fact, besides the hidden agenda of devaluing RWRB, these editorials show another hidden agenda, but that's something for a later day. PM me id you want to now, I won't discuss that one on my public platform yet.

Again, there is so much more room for twisting and hiding words in a written editorial. In all the video interviews Nick did, especially in the UK, when has he ever avoided a question about RWRB? When has he ever not shown gratitude towards the project?

Two: In all video evidence that can't be manipulated, that clearly shows Nick's own thoughts which not influenced by any other party, he has made it clear that he adores RWRB.

Why else would he sign books during the M&G London premiere, going as far as to stay behind after the event just to sign books? Same with the LA M&G premiere and TIOY premiere: those were promotions for other projects, he had a valid reason to refuse to sign the RWRB books and posters, but he didn't, always signing with a big smile on his face, even playfully signing on Taylor's face. He said it himself in his Instagram post, and I quote: "The love that Henry has received has been one of the most heartwarming things to watch. It's been difficult to not talk about him. So thank you for seeing him for all he is. He was a joy to bring to life." There's your proof, directly from the man himself.

Statement Two: Nick's not interested in doing a sequel, he said he's done playing princes and he's done playing romantic leads

One: "Done playing princes" doesn't mean literally done playing princes, it means he wants to try more roles and not be stuck with only being known as the "prince" guy. (even though he's literally a prince lol)

Plus, he said that after Robert, but then Henry came along and he was attracted to Henry as a character with his scared but loving heart. He doesn't just view Henry as a prince, he views Henry as a complex, delicate person who so happens to be a prince. Him saying he's done playing princes means in the future, he doesn't really want another royal on his filmography, but this doesn't mean he doesn't want to continue Henry's story. With the given context, namely asking him about future projects he wants to take up, "he's done playing princes" and "he doesn't want to play Henry anymore" are not mutually inclusive.

Two: "Done playing romantic leads" means he wants to try new things and take up new projects that aren't romance films.

This doesn't include the continuation of already established characters i.e. sequels, this just means if he were to take up brand new projects, he wants to try something else. Sequels are inherently different from new projects because again, sequels are based on already established characters.

Three: He said several times ON VIDEO that he'd be in for a sequel

In this one, when asked if he'd be up for a sequel, he said, and I quote "Look, I think with any opportunity of doing a sequel, I think, you know, the script has to be right. But obviously, it was so lovely to see how many people it touched and having that resonance is incredibly important to me, so, yeah. Of course."

In this one, when asked if they have had conservation on a potential sequel, he said, and again I quote: "Yeah, I mean definitely had conversations. I think we're all on the same page in the sense that, you know, the script needs to be right, and sort of all the different components need to be right because we made something that has such a positive effect and I think the last thing you'd wanna do is ruin that or take that in a way, so, you know, the conversations are definitely being had."

And there are more videos from red carpet interviews that I can't be bothered to find right now but he says more or less the same thing.

(look I even transcribed it)

Not only is he on board with a sequel, he's also being careful about it to make sure once they do get to making it, it's something good. He's on board, and he values it. And again, that's directly from him.

We have a phrase in Chinese: 斷章取義, meaning "breaking off a small part of an article and deriving the meaning from that single part" That's what so many of you, in particular, the people who come to my inbox with the sentiments of the above-mentioned statement are doing. Please, use critical thinking and look at the whole picture. Stop making judgments from the surface of one source.

Tagging my friends @alittlefrenchtree and @myteavsricochet because it looks like they've been getting the same things I got

[quietmonologues]

From my little perch on the outskirts of this fandom, seeing questions like “why do you ship these characters together when they don’t like each other?” or “how can you like this person when they did this bad thing?” (even though so many of this fandom's popular characters did terrible things or popular ships started off as hostile…) makes me believe that ACOTAR seems to be a lot of people’s introduction to young adult (YA) fiction, and their accompanying literary, character, and romantic relationship tropes. And because of that, this fandom seems really “young” yes in terms of demographics, but also in the sense that notions such as nuance and not taking things at face value are seemingly new concepts...maybe? There’s just something so “juvenile” and "robotic" about this fandom, and I think it would be interesting to dig deep into why that is.

I know that the series saw a huge spike in popularity due to tiktok aka “booktok” and because that platform is primarily geared towards teenagers and young adults, I do think that is one factor for why the ACOTAR fandom is “young”. That’s not to say that booktok is exclusive to young people, and that’s not to say that all of booktok is “toxic” since I’ve watched some great ACOTAR analysis videos there. However, in looking at the broader world of that platform, I see posts like this one and this one that basically outline the notion that booktok is basically “for the aesthetics”. Booktok promotes the type of reading that is quick and surface-level, and I think that perpetuates this confusion some fans have when things “go against the grain” from what's in front of them in the text such as, a group of fans liking a character who the narrative deems as “bad” or shipping two characters who are seemingly disinterested in each other and barely interact in the story. But there's nothing really confusing about those opinions…we just need to not read so fast, I think! So in a way, booktok is sort of like an introduction to a fandom space (again maybe many people's first fandom!) that exists without nuanced discussions and simply takes things at face value in order to satiate that quick rush.

I know not every fan is coming from booktok and being influenced by those trends. So then I also think about SJM as a writer and how this series is sprinkled with moments of “tell don’t show”, contradictions, and lack of nuance (like when a character says something contradictory to what was previously written in the narrative or when the narrative deems one character’s actions as “good” while condemning another’s actions as “bad”, even though they both performed similar acts). This type of writing makes reading easier to digest maybe, but I think it also allows (and maybe even encourages) readers to not think as critically as they probably should because again, it's “quick reading” and it’s easy to miss out on moments that don’t make sense. I think with the way SJM writes these books, we’re not meant to call into question some of those contradictions, especially when they are not acknowledged by the narrative. We casually believe that a character is “terrible” because SJM says so, even though they really aren't upon deeper introspection. So a lot of the initial reading is really “flat” and it contributes to that missing nuance.

I also see the “youth” of this fandom through the shipping. I do think the “ship war” contributes to warping a reader’s perception of events and characterizations in order to justify why one ship is better than the other. And going back to taking things at face value, there’s this interesting notion that if two characters like each other, then that’s it, there are no second chances for them to find a different romantic partner. It’s surface-level and it’s a silly thought to me because romance (in fiction and in real life) isn't always so cut and dry, so linear. There are countless YA fiction where a character doesn't always end up with the character they were initially attracted to. It's such a common trope and it begs the question of if ACOTAR is a reader’s first introduction to shipping, YA (or general) romance tropes and how formulaic they can be sometimes. I think the fandom being appalled by some of the ships (whether fanon or crack ships) shows a bit of that juvenile mentality too because sometimes…the shipping isn't meant to be that deep.

I will say that not turning things over in your mind or thinking critically isn't always a bad thing per se, because sometimes we don't want to think; we just want to turn our brains off and freely read the text. I have those moments too. But when it comes to discussions (which I think is crucial in fandom spaces) we run into so much hypocrisy and “bad takes”, and it just creates a pool of frustration within the fandom space. I think everyone should know that criticism is not negativity, and that we can question what we read while still loving it. That's all okay, we don't need to mindlessly adhere to everything in a book just because we're trying to follow trends on booktok or because the narrative says so or because we need our favourite ship to be superior. We're not mindless robots and we're not little children, but the fandom does come off as childish sometimes…

[favvn]

New day, new post about Billiam Shatner that makes me want to scream. I really feel like too many of you are all so committed to viewing him in the worst possible light that you can't even comprehend an interview response for what it is without first assuming the worst (and bringing in the specter of his tweets to boot!) and then missing the other half of the interview segment, so you push the same out-of-context telephone game even further and double-down on your preconceived notions of a person a result. And make no mistake, a lot of the history surrounding Star Trek: The Original Series is a game of telephone. So much of it is in oral format and left to memory, so if something sticks in the collective sphere of public opinion, it stays forever and it makes it impossible to definitively know the truth behind these stories. But I'm going to try to put things into words again instead of just getting angry and I'm probably look nuts doing it because I get it: An awful lot of you hate Shatner because you have a specific image of him in your minds, but this is my corner of the internet and I want to don my clown wig and clown nose today. (I was neutral about Shatner once upon a time, but seeing the continued fandom response to him, fine. I'm a Shatner fan. (Also watching him in Roger Corman's The Intruder was one hell of a way to see the full scale of his acting abilities. There's a reason why he was cast as the lead role on Star Trek although Nimoy clearly eclipsed him, and if you believe he isn't acting on Star Trek, at least try to watch his pre-Star Trek work such as his Twilight Zone episodes and The Intruder to understand how he immediately got the starring role.) I'll dig into the details because there is always something being overlooked for the narrative that is being crafted.)

What follows is possibly a too-detailed dive into that much-memed Bill Boggs interview clip. I have provided both the specific clip and a transcript of it below, with plenty of my rambling in between :)

Necessary context: This interview was given in conjunction with the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture and the novel tie-in in 1979. Also at this point, Shatner had his first book come out Shatner: Where No Man... which he also promotes during this interview. This interview is very much the result of standard publicity to generate interest for upcoming projects (or in the case of Shatner's book, something that was already out), so pieces of it followed a script of pre-approved questions and the pre-written responses. This is not to say this entire interview is a farce or that Shatner stuck to a script, but it is very much standard practice for questions to be known ahead of time by the interviewee (it makes for a better interview for the person to come prepared), especially when it is part of a larger amount of publicity for a film so that nothing controversial is said that could damage the studio in the eyes of its sponsors and investors.

Fans of Star Trek were in the audience and asked questions by the latter half of this interview, and while Shatner's response after first being introduced to them in the beginning was a little awkward as he tried to get his phrasing out, he was very courteous and kind with his words to them, thanking them for their support and their genuine interest in the series and the people involved in making it (which hardly comes as any surprise. Do you really think he went on a talk show to be rude to fans in the audience? Do you think Paramount or Roddenberry would have allowed that?). It wasn't until 1986 that he appeared in a SNL sketch and told the assembled group of actors portraying fans at a convention to "get a life," a skit that was scripted for a comedy show and penned by the writers for the show, that Shatner found hilarious despite reservations about how Roddenberry himself may respond to it. This was not Shatner climbing to the podium at a real convention and yelling at regular people, and the later interview segment between Shatner and fans on Bill Boggs' talk show is hardly the same as that SNL skit, either. Shatner has had a tumultuous relationship to the fandom, but this is not the case in this interview at the time of 1979 (or, if it is, he kept a lid on it and kept it private).

Lastly, William Shatner, if you are at all familiar with him outside of acting, jokes around a lot (this is, quite possibly, a point of contention for a lot of people; some people can't stand someone always making everything into a joke because it seems like they take nothing seriously), and this interview is no different. Some of his jokes hit (audience laughter) and some stutter if not fail.

Boggs: This question comes from deep in the heart of fandom. Shatner: I thought you were going to say Texas. [Audience laughs] Boggs: No, the fandom. There are those Star Trek fans who have intimated a homosexual--a potential homosexual relationship between-- Shatner [Places his hand on Boggs' arm and gives him a knowing stare.] Boggs: Not us! Shatner: Oh! [removes hand] [Audience laughs] Boggs: No, between Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock, portrayed by Leonard Nimoy, so much that- that in fact that Gene Roddenberry in the novelization of Star Trek The Motion Picture puts an Editor's Note around the word that, uh, Spock uses which is-- Shatner: [Gives a very harsh pronunciation of T'hy'la making it sound like t'LAH, earning laughter from the audience] Boggs: Ty'La or something like that. Shatner: t'LAH Boggs: What is it? Shatner: t'LAH Boggs: Which could mean "lover" or something like that. This is my question: why do you think some fans see this potential relationship between Kirk and Spock? Shatner: Because they're-- Boggs: Let's have the straight talk here. Shatner: Because they're gay! [Audience laughs and applauds] Boggs: Well, that's it.

"They" could refer to Kirk and Spock as characters or to the fans seeing the characters as being in a homosexual relationship. It's not exactly clear which is the intended subject of the statement given who can be referred to by the word "they", and that ambiguity is the point of it. It isn't supposed to be clear but it is meant to be laughed at, not as a sign of homophobia, but as a softening of the idea presented. I feel like these days people keep forgetting that humor has been used and will continue to be used as a way of breaking tension in a conversation, and it's something that Shatner has done in the past and continues to do. Awkward lull? Crack a joke. The mood gets sour? Crack a joke. If you get people laughing, even if you say something they might not agree with or want to hear, they'll be in a better mood to hear it. My calling William Shatner "Billiam" is part joke. I want you to chuckle. I want you, the reader, to try and meet me halfway in what I'm saying because so many spaces in this fandom has seemingly made it clear: Shatner exists to get dunked on owing for the things he's tweeted (assuming he is the one running his twitter account which follows from a long tradition of hired managers for sns. Why is Shatner's an ass? I don't know. Who would benefit from getting hired by a man (if not his management team) who is now in his 90s?) and the reputation he has, whereas I can't get behind that attitude owing to the devil in the details (and the perhaps naive notion that people ought to be allowed to make mistakes and not have a perfect reputation, especially when reputations are not something that can be easily changed once they get set in the public perception).

On the one hand, let's assume "they" refers to the fans. The interview began with Boggs introducing Shatner to the audience and stating they were Star Trek fans. He knows the fandom is comprised of both women and men. Even before this interview he was aware of women in the fandom owing to the fan letters the cast recieved during the series' original run. The writing of his first memoir Shatner: Where No Man... co-authored by Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath (the same writers behind The Price of the Phoenix series, yes, that series) also covered everything from working with two fans of the series to answering questions about women's enjoyment of the series. (The memoir's other subject matter from the co-authors aside; they brought Ayn Rand into it. If you happen to know what she had to say about sexual fantasies, it doesn't surprise me that he later tried to destroy the books. It's not the best image to cultivate, to put it lightly. As always, you get a mixed bag with Shatner and that hardly helps when people want perfect celebrities to look to). So it's not necessarily true, is it, to claim that the fans who see K/S are gay, especially when these fans are hardly publicly professing their orientations (as is their right to basic privacy)? Nor does it make complete sense for the audience to laugh so earnestly if the intended subject of the statement was to be the fans themselves. (Self-depreciating humor is a thing, and Shatner falls back on it a lot, but you really mean to tell me a talk show audience in 1979 are all openly queer?)

On the other hand, let's assume "they" refers to Kirk and Spock, which supports how it is immediately laughed at as a joke and how Shatner takes it further into another joke. Again, Shatner is hardly a stranger to this concept given the women who helped write his memoir, given the documented historical inspiration for Kirk and Spock (Alexander the Great and Hephaestion), given Shatner's own history of acting roles, notably being cast as Alexander the Great in a television pilot that never got picked up. (To say nothing of his own credits on the stage before television. You really want me to believe a stage actor cannot conceive of two characters being gay? Especially an actor like Shatner who would've killed as a guest star on Batman given his unflinching commitment to the bit and his use of campy acting within TOS?) He knows about the T'hy'la footnote prior to this interview owing to the press kit he would've been prepared with. He has had to discuss the implications of K/S with Gene Roddenberry and Leonard Nimoy in conjunction with that press kit. (Dare I even bring in Tom Hardy's infamous, "I'm an actor. Of course I've had gay sex" quote although it risks speculating on Shatner's sexual orientation?)

Ultimately, he says "Because they're gay!" to mean "because Kirk and Spock are gay" and says it as a joke, hence his next response that builds onto the joke:

Shatner: But, believe me-- Boggs: That's the reason. You heard it on this show. Shatner: Believe me. I've had to educate Leonard. [Everyone laughs]

Bonus points to you if you know what play and film Nimoy starred in prior to Star Trek. (I really hope that Shatner knew about this when he had this interview but it's hard to say given how Shatner's friendship with Nimoy began more as a professional rivalry during TOS and didn't really become a friendship until the 70s. Which, to read how Shatner describes it, is damned sad that he never really had a friend in life prior to Nimoy.)

Need I point out that Shatner made at least 3 gay jokes in a row? (The hand on Boggs' arm when he assumed Boggs was talking about them as a couple, the "Because they're gay!" and "I had to educate Leonard") This interview is a classic example of Shatner playing the field and offering every possible side. He really is a man of 1000 masks, the onion that defies peeling. There's a reason why his sexual orientation is still the subject of scrutiny to this day but why no one can definitively state it and it's because Shatner has mastered this nebulous, shifting image, and frankly, good for him. I feel like people forget that had Shatner chose to go to/stay in Hollywood (he did star in a few large film productions but stuck mostly to the fringes owing to the studio contract system), he would have been the contemporary of Rock Hudson and Tab Hunter, both actors who were upheld as the ideal heterosexual man despite both actors being closeted from the public. It truly does not cause me any wonder as to why Shatner does what he does in interviews. It offers a glimpse of openness and reality, but look too closely and has he revealed anything of himself? No, but you have scraps to try to piece together however you choose.

Shatner: Don't be ridiculous! Boggs: I wasn't. I'm saying this is from fandom. These are your fans. Shatner: I know but-- but-- but a beautiful girl is-- I mean, that's… fantastic, isn't it? I mean? Boggs: I've always thought so.

Shatner does seem to back-pedal away from this joke with the over-the-top incredulous, "Don't be ridiculous!" to negate his original statement. Yet he hardly sounds angry or upset as he says it. He's still smiling and laughing about the previous joke he set up, and his delivery reads more as a "Don't make me laugh!" when he literally just laughed. I realize I can't necessarily change anyone's mind, but this is actually not the end of his response to the question, because Boggs pushes past and gets him back on track. Shatner pulled his jokes but the question still stands and fans are waiting for an answer.

He then offers unprompted the comment about "a beautiful girl [...] that's fantastic," to further the deflection, yet he stutters an awful lot to get it out despite how easily he was talking earlier. If you've watched the full interview, his stuttering here mirrors his initial struggle to get his phrasing together when addressing the fans in the audience, which to me reads as a "off-script" moment. He set up the joke, had a good laugh, and is struggling to walk it back if not keep the laughter going. If this is his attempt to reassert his heterosexuality and masculinity, wow did it fail immediately, and this is coming from the man who had to dramatically read the preamble to the US Constitution as the penultimate scene to a Star Trek episode. (Can I say that The Omega Glory shows that Shatner is a great actor? To take a lackluster script but still give it 100%? To still take outlandish ideas but sell them and play it earnestly?)

One could argue that it looks like Shatner is trying to insert distance between himself as a person and the perceived sexuality of the character he plays--a character he has been typecast as at this point, in other words, a character that people so wholly associate him with, that is all they see him as. Typecasting is a death sentence for an actor's career if they can't manage to push past it, and this explains his tumultuous relationship to the fandom. Yeah, they catapulted him to an unknown degree of fame but at what cost? Nobody takes his abilities seriously now if all they've seen of Shatner is Captain Kirk. He used to do Shakespeare on rotation, famously filled Christopher Plummer's role one night at the last second, originated roles on Broadway, and now he's a joke at worst or the mouthpiece for a fictional character at best after 3 years in a sci-fi series, despite everything he did before it. I think that would drive anyone up a wall. (Need I mention how Leonard Nimoy famously wrote I Am Not Spock in response to the phenomenon of being typecast, limited to the role of Spock, and only being seen as Spock even long after the show ended and the ears were put away? Perhaps Nimoy handled it with more grace, but Star Trek created a whole phenomenon none of the cast was prepared for.)

(He later says in this interview that he played Kirk as if just acting as himself due to the harsh schedule of the show's production, going so far as to say there's no real difference between himself and Kirk (you sure you want to phrase it like that, Billiam?) His point is not that he really is Kirk but that he approached his character in a very casual, more improvisational way compared to Leonard Nimoy, who chose to develop his character as Spock early on at the very beginning of the show's production, but the pressure of maintaining Spock coupled with the intense schedule led to him drinking more and more and becoming an alcoholic; I mention this as a "this is how things went from Nimoy's side, and it worked but at what cost?" Does this make Shatner a lazy actor or does it show the differences between how he and Nimoy approach acting, namely that Shatner will improvise more whereas Nimoy will act after careful thought about the character (not unlike the Method form of acting)? To say nothing about how different their roles are, which only reinforces how they approached their work differently.)

But back to this interview clip. Shatner makes a big fuss about it being ridiculous in the same way he blurts, "Because they're gay!" Again, I can't change anyone's mind, but this reads as another joke to me given the overacted delivery and the way that he does not at all sound earnestly angry or offended. This is not a "Wah, my sexuality and masculinity is challenged! I must reassert how manly and straight I am!" especially as his later response in this same clip shows an earnest and measured calm to the notion of K/S and the pairing's fans. And it hardly reads as fear to be perceived as gay given he was leaning into the idea of a gay relationship between himself and Boggs and leaning into the idea of educating Nimoy on the matter of homosexuality earlier for a laugh. Basically, not all of Shatner's jokes land and this reads like one of his failed attempts at overacting for comedic effect, of baiting Boggs for a response for him to then further to react to, but Boggs did not fully take the bait so the joke crashed and burned.

And it's interesting that this response seemingly mirrors the same nebulous response as the T'hy'la footnote that was written so that it can be interpreted as both supporting K/S or showing that Kirk and Spock were just brothers-in-arms, coworkers, and straight friends. (Why alienate the fanbase? Why not keep things vague, toss crumbs that can support either side, and sit back for more profit?) Based on how messy portions of this interview is (these are not perfect answers but some responses are and reek of promotion material), I think it is safe to say that Shatner did not fully stay on any sort of scripted response for the question of K/S, but it does fall in line with the official "neither deny or blatantly support it" stance, which again stems from the idea of don't break up the fanbase and wreck your profits. Cater to both sides of the fandom, those who see K/S (lovers) and those who see K&S (friends).

Boggs: But the fans-- Why do you think the fans saw it that way? Was it all an illusion? Shatner: No, because a friendship between two men is so, uh, strange to American audiences. You know, I mean, men and women in Europe, for example, walk arm-in-arm and they're close friends. [re-enactment of a whispered, rushed conversation] And they're holding each other.

It's easy to assume this response is about a man and a woman walking and talking closely together given his later phrasing, but his point is that two men and two women will be physically close to one another as friends in various European countries in a way that doesn't happen in the US. Take for example the cheek kissing way of greeting that is popular in Southern Europe. That's not common in the US even now and it certainly wasn't 50 years ago, although we understand it as a cultural difference. Likewise, Shatner is pointing out the key cultural differences in what degree of emotional and physical closeness is allowed between the genders before it is speculated to be a sign of one's sexual orientation (Anyone familiar with Gay or European from Legally Blonde the musical? That's it in joke and song form). Ultimately, this is still a negation of K/S, but it is respectful in its phrasing. He doesn't call the fans delusional for seeing it, although that was an option he could have taken given Boggs' phrasing. He points out that Kirk and Spock's relationship is out of the norm for the male relationships seen in the US and its media of the era, so it is easily seen as gay. (Need I bring up the Hays Code and how to depict homosexuality was to be censored for showing a perversion, and that Star Trek was made in light of the code's decades-long influence on the film industry and television to a lesser extent? That the decriminalization of sodomy in the US slowly began in the early 60s as Star Trek was being produced? These background details impacted the show and still would impact the film.)

Boggs: You and I do that down 5th Avenue, we're gonna hit every column in the world. Shatner: Different mid-day show. It'd be a mid-life show.

Billiam. Two more jokes? I'd be in tears in the audience. The man knows damn well what he is doing, and again this is why I take issue with the idea that he was appalled about K/S or how his own sexuality appears to strangers. Why keep cracking gay jokes then? You mean to tell me this isn't a sign of someone being comfortable in their sexual orientation, just because it is Shatner telling these jokes?

Boggs: So you just think that's part of their reading something into it? There's no evidence in the script or in your performances that supports that? Shatner: Well, none in hand. Boggs: "None in hand." Alright.

Shatner doesn't respond to the first question but responds to the second. In hand as an idiom can mean "controlled by someone in a position of authority" or "being worked on or dealt with now." Shatner ends this segment with another joke by negating this idiom and it flies over everyone's head. While it does technically mean that yes, in this interview, he even agrees that he did not do anything explicit to portray Kirk as gay and that there was nothing explicit in the script itself--nothing from the authorities that be on the production and writing teams. But keep the negated idiom in mind: nothing being worked on now or controlled by an authority. It is an open response that says, "This was not intended, but I'm not denying the interpretation" again in the same why the T'hy'la footnote was written to neither explicitly confirm nor explicitly deny. (I would say this doubles as a pun but Shatner missed his opportunity by not phrasing his earlier response as "they walk hand-in-hand together;" yes, word choice matters for puns because it is a play on words and missing the right words will kill the joke.)

This is the full context of the "Because they're gay!" clip. It is two parts joke (because it's Shatner; if you wanted only/mostly earnestness, watch a Nimoy interview because it's been well-documented that Shatner is a clown! The man is great with humor! But his reputation claims otherwise somehow), one part earnest, and it is not as clear-cut as most would like it to be. He does not explicitly deride the fans for shipping K/S at all, despite multiple opportunities to do so. He offers a serious and honest response to the question after making his jokes. I understand that many want to look towards his tweets (which still gets into that issue of who exactly does the tweeting; how much is Shatner, how much is the troll of a sns manager because I am still of the mind that it is a combination but I am not combing through them to find support for this theory; I may be insane but even I have my limits) as an example for why he doesn't support K/S (despite his tweets that do, in fact, support the fans who ship K/S) because he famously tweeted that Kirk is not Bi because he wasn't written to be Bi rather than simply supporting a fan headcanon, but once more this is continuing an image that does not have a basis in reality simply because it is "fun" to dunk on Billiam Shatner.

[writingquestionsanswered]

In Possession of Departed Author's Last Works

Anonymous asked: My favorite fanfic author removed her work because she was being published. Unfortunately, she passed away after Volume 1, and the company went under. I've collected her deleted work for personal enjoyment and considered sharing it but now I'm not sure what to do. Ao3 says I need to ask her next of kin (complicated... I'm not comfortable hunting for/reaching out to family) or 'fannish' next of kin (there are none). So, how would you like to see your works handled if you passed away?

[Ask edited for length/clarity]

There seems to be two different questions here... you're struggling with what to do with this departed fanfic author's remaining work, which you have collected, but then your question is how "you" (I) would want my works handled if I passed away, and I'm not sure how these two questions are related. How I would want my own work to be handled in that event has nothing to do with this other author. I can't give you permission to do anything with this author's work by way of what I want done with my own.

Quick clarification here that I am not a lawyer or a copyright expert, so this is just all according to the best of my knowledge and experience...

In reference to the departed fanfic author: copyright belongs to the author or next of kin (the estate), and the extent of these rights can sometimes depend on the contract. The bottom line is that you do not have a legal right to publish, post, or otherwise publicly share these works without permission from the copyright holder, whether that's the publisher or the estate. And if these works are protected under trademark, from the trademark holder. And that's it, unfortunately. There's nowhere to go beyond that.

Without talking to the estate and/or publisher, you can't know what posthumous wishes were established by the author, if any. You also can't know where the remaining works were left off... maybe volume two was already written and the publisher has it, but is waiting for legal arrangements to come through with the estate. Maybe the manuscript wasn't finished, but the publisher has secured rights to the copyright so that they can hire a ghost writer to finish it... which doesn't mean they actually will. Again, without reaching out to these entities, you can't know, and posting or sharing these stories without permission is both fraudulent and illegal.

My strong recommendation to you would be to either hire a lawyer to help you reach out to the estate for permission, or let it go. ♥

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[mayorbeaver]

also troy otto 😌😌😌

Another tragic character😭

Things I like:

He was such a good villain. He had such a fascinating arc to me!! Daniel Sharman always serves in all his roles but there was smth SPICY about the way he played Troy. He had so many ups and downs of being an antagonist and possible protagonist throughout season 3 (I refuse to talk about season 8😭) I think it’s interesting how ultimately what he craved was approval and affection and he would seek it out wherever he could. His father, Madison, Nick. Troys villain origin story was having mommy issues and being raised by a cultish ultra Republican father😭😭😭 HE WOULD HAVE BEEN FINE WITH DIFF PARENTS 😭😭😭 I think there’s also a lot to be said about how much he progresses in the second half of s3 once hes off the ranch only to revert to what he was before when Madison confronts him before she bonks him with a hammer. Not because he’s evil or was faking it but rather because he felt like a cornered animal and lashed out in defense of himself. He had to make sense of what he did and why he did it. He had to say he’d do it again. Because if he didn’t, then Jake was dead for nothing. Because if he didn’t, it’d show that he knew he was in the wrong. I think it also showed how much trust he had in Madison that she’d forgive him because he looks SO betrayed when she hits him.

Things I dislike:

Troy is an EXTREMELY well written character. I cant say I dislike anything about him. Like yeah, he’s a bigot and awful person but from a writing standpoint I can’t say there’s anything else I could ask for. My gripes lay more with the behind the scenes & s8. I hate that the og writer for FTWD was fired because the soft reboot of the series was fucking awful. I hate that Troy was killed so the following writers wouldn’t be able to take him and ruin him and they did that anyways. And that’s my biggest fucking issue😭I love seeing Daniel employed and thriving but having Troy come back for a few episodes and die in the most lackluster uncreative way JUST because ratings weren’t doing well pisses me off SO much. The Troy that came back didn’t feel like Troy at all. Maybe if we had gotten how he developed and changed during the years he was apparently ALIVE then maybe yeah it’d make sense but Erm no. It was a big waste of daniels talents and lowkey a slap to the face of both him and the previous writers but I do get some satisfaction that the writers were changed to garner more views only for views to fuckin PLUMMET after the switch (and what was with that blue fucking filter over the entire show from s4-8???)

[thenerdofthegroup]

Finally watched… trying not to be angry or sad or anything because what the actual fuck…

But my friend isn’t picking up the phone so I’m ranting here. SO FINALLY SPOILERS YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

Like I love most of it.

But there HAS HAS HAS to be an explanation for why there was almost no Agatha and Rio. Not even in a shipper way but in a ‘no fucking explanation for anything’ way

Agatha as a ghost is fucking iconic BUT they did not have rite it well enough and it completely felt like ‘kill of all the women and bury the gay’ troupe

Jen was fucking wasted oh my god. Sasheer and Kathryn you deserved more

Agatha and Nicky was fucking incredible. I loved it. Agatha I love you and you being a mum is my life.

I wish we saw a bit more but starting off like THAT!! Uh I loved it. I wish we, y’know, understood Agatha and Rio’s interaction, but her using Rio’s love to keep her baby that she wanted more than anything was brilliant. And the slight sadness that… Agatha doesn’t know how to live without taking and killing. Not really. So that’s what she did. She loved and cared for Nick but she couldn’t get him to a school, she couldn’t settle down, she couldn’t do a lot of normal things because she isn’t a normal person. Such beautiful tragedy shown through it

Okay screaming again:

So… literally the ONLY FUCKING PERSON who gets to show of ACTUAL MAGIC IS THE FUCKING GUY!!!!!!! FUCK YOU!!! I WANTED TO SEE AGATHA BE THE QUEEN OF MAGIC AND ALL WE GOT IN THE END WERE SOME FUCKING ENERGY BLASTS!!! Fuck yourselves sincerely

“He created the road” fun twist but would have actually appreciated it if we saw Agatha being a witch.

I did not wait THREE FUCKING YEARS FOR A SHOW CALLED AGATHA ALL ALONG ABOUT WOMEN FOR IT TO BE A SET UP FOR THE FUCKING GUY

like I’m really trying not to be angry. I don’t want to end it on a bad note because the entire show has been fucking increible but OH MY GOD. OH MY FUCKING GOD WHOEVER WROTE BILLY IN IT SO MUCH ACTUALLY-

No I won’t continue. I’m just fucking pissed. Why did he have to- uhhhhhhh nevermind

Kathryn you are fucking incredible. You are fucking incredible and I have conflicting feelings now but you are the star. You made this entire show and any iffy feelings I have are not towards you. Kathryn absolutely outdid herself. She was truly the star and was incredible start to end. I just wanted more. I wanted to see her in Salem, I wanted to see how she met death (BECAUSE WHY THE FUCK WASNT THAT EXPLAINED) and I wanted to just see more. But what we were given, Agatha was the best part. She was incredible and I’m so happy we got this

I am angry. I am upset. But I’m also so happy both Agatha and Kathryn got this. And because she is my special interest this entire show is now my entire personality.

But I will say the one thing I am still not over, because I did love 90%, is how little explanation we got and how it conflicted. Jac should have written the whole thing. There should not have been separate writers because I am convinced that and Disney limiting their time is the problem. And Aubrey but I don’t want to get shouted at so… (fuck you megalopolis)

So yes I’m mad. But I am 100000% more in love with Agatha.

AND GREY HAIRED AGATHA I FUCKING WON OH MY GOD!!!! (For that tiny bit)

My biggest anger that I’ve realised, they haven’t actually concluded Agatha story. And I’m not saying ‘oh she’s going on as a ghost-‘. No. They didn’t give her ANY story growth at the end. She should have betrayed him. She didn’t. Fine. But then they did NOTHING!!! HER ENDING IS WORSE THAN WHERE SHE STARTED!!! God I was happy with a sad ending IF they gave her more of an ending. But no. She’s now the side character to the boy. She ends up as a ghost, no resolution with Rio (whether you care about their relationship or not we got no explanation), she has no proper resolution with her son’s story, and now she is helping the kid that LITERALLY WANTED TO BANISH HER?!?!? And she’s in the same place that her mum ‘lives’. Nah. I’m mad. I’m really mad. All of that for it not to be Agatha’s story. Not really. Those flashbacks were incredible but we got no complete story.

So either there is a second season/ continuation in another project about her story (not Wiccan because that will not be about her or help at all. I’m talking scarlet witch or anything to do with Rio) or she has just been completely fucked over. And it’s harsh but I’m mad right now. In 10 minutes I will have calmed down but my god. She is everything to me and for her story to not even feel slightly completed?!? It hurts man. It really hurts

I made a joke with a friend. All I wanted was Agatha and her story. And we didn’t really get that in the present day. It was just used to set up Wiccan and she is in a far worse place emotionally than she was in WV. Because she hasn’t really processed Nick. Not really. We needed to see that. We needed at the very least to see her actively process nicks death and her love for Rio to see her character and we got none of that. It really hurts man

Anyway, I might take this down or update it when I haven’t just watched it. But I am upset most of all ending it with anger. But I will have to watch it again and again to form a good opinion.

Anyway x2, anyone who read these opinions and agrees slightly, go watch it again. Hopefully our outlooks will become clearer and we can enjoy Agatha now we know what happens.

[mistressoftherant-blog]

TUA Finale

Spoilers below for the Umbrella Academy final and my not so positive opinion of it.

Why did anyone on the writers team think it was a good idea to have Lila and Five do that?!

I already didn't like Lila for the stunt she pulled with the kid, making Diego get attached to a boy he would never see again and then dropping the bombshell that she was pregnant. I was already a little mad that Five ruined Diego's breakout plan from the asylum, getting him stuck with a needle, put in a straitjacket and locked in a padded cell.

I never appreciated the fact that both of them call Diego dumb constantly (nor the fact that the show has dumbed him down significantly since season 1). The body shaming from Lila was also uncomfortable.

But this... this was a whole new level of awful. And because it was the end of the season and they were all dying, Diego just had to accept it and move on?? Like this was shoved in at the end for a bit of cheap drama.

Cheating is not the answer to feeling unhappy in marriage, especially not with your husband's brother. Especially not when you have three young kids. I really wish Lila could have just been a friend to them rather than in a relationship with any of them. It always bothered me how the writers basically erased Patch and then had Diego move on with Lila like what they had had was nothing, when her death was such a massive moment.

And it was despicable behaviour from Five, especially the way he acted towards Diego in his in-laws home (Or his own home, I wasn't quite clear on that). He's always been condescending and arrogant, and treated Diego in particular in a pretty shitty way, but I always accepted that he was a well-written character. This move destroyed that.

Plus, there is no getting around how weird it was age wise. Five is a man in his 60s mentally (actually, would he be in his 70s seeing as he said he was 62/3 in the beginning of the show and then they spend 7 years trapped?) and a teenager physically. It's creepy. Majorly creepy. Expecially as the writers basically threw this in because they decided everyone needed at least one love story. Which is not true. Platonic stories are just as important narrative wise, and in real life. Also odd vibes that Five's actor would have pretty much just turned 18 when they filmed all of that.

Also, did they just forget that Digeo has a stutter?? I thought for sure that he was going to stutter when confronting Lila and Five as that was a big emotional moment which tends to bring his stutter on or make it worse. But, nope, no stutter at all. (I also feel like Lila was quite patronising when Diego was stuttering last season, though that may just be me reading too much into it as I never liked her character.)

They also seemed to forget Lila's abilities. They made her stupid powerful, (and yes, call me petty, but it pissed me off that they introduced someone who could steal all of their powers and who was basically an extreme, overpowered, not like other girls character), but didn't keep it consistent. Why could she use Viktor's powers in the final fight, but no one else's? Couldn't she have just teleported them into the building instead of needing to dig the knife in deeper for Diego by saying how much she needed Five?

This season was a hot mess, and I have so many gripes with it. There were some good points, like Jean and Gene were fun antagonists, and the Diego and Luther brotherly relationship was great, but none of that can redeem just how awful it was overall.