#although if the fandom were big maybe I'd have more people i could get into kanitou and kansumi and all my other nasty little ships

[blorboresidue]

actually it's probably a good thing the tactics fandom is in the single digits cause if it were a big fandom I'd get so sick of harukan so fast. instead I get to be unhinged and obsessive over them exactly as if they were a niche ship, cause it's a closed ecosystem

[oshinohoshi]

Oshi no Ko Ch 160 thoughts

I think I'll start this out with a jump scare.

Imagine this guy showing up at your door trying to sell you a nice new set of kitchen knives. I'd take ten.

The above image is so ghoulish that I'd be tempted to see it as just Aqua's distorted perception of his father, not a mask off moment where Hikaru morphed into Slenderman

But I have no confidence that this chapter didn't just toss Hikaru's character development in the bin

A well-executed twist following a twist should be satisfying but rather than getting a nice "aha" moment, I'm just getting whiplash

Even though I don't like it, I guess I can buy a heartbroken and jaded Hikaru who subtly manipulated Ryosuke into becoming more unhinged and later influenced Nino to do his dirty work

Although I don't think Ryosuke needed any help being a dumpster fire of a human and Nino really has nobody to blame but herself

But then what were chapters 154 and 155 about?

The mess that was HkAi is so compelling to me. I find their relationship sweet and tragic. It was a disaster that could have become something lovely if they weren't such fragile people already deeply wounded at a young age

In order for Hikaru's realization that Ai loved him to be as impactful as it is, then "I'm going to do what I can for Ai" can't be a lie

Which means he can't have wanted to hurt Ruby after watching the DVD

Which means that we're gonna keep spinning in circles about Hikaru's culpability and motives until Akasaka lets us off this ride

We've gone from "Aqua delivered a revenge worse than death to an already self-destructive man" to "oh, I guess that meant nothing. Time to have a knife fight"

And then there's the below panel. The worst thing Hikaru said about Ai was that she was a normal girl who could be cruel. Now she's standing next to a very accusatory speech bubble

"Make people obey you?" Hikaru wouldn't think that of Ai post 154

I wouldn't be surprised if he's just winding Aqua up because he has a death wish, but I think that's just me trying to cope

I've been waiting a very long time for "you're just like me" from Hikaru to Aqua but it would have been more effective if the panels supposedly showing Aqua's power to charm didn't seem to have been chosen at random

Can I just say, this panel makes me uncomfortable:

It's hard to think of Ruby wholeheartedly singing love songs to sweaty 20-something men, and the way Ai and B Komachi started doing so when they were just children, and not feel weird

OnK does a wonderful job portraying the good things about idol fandom alongside the heinously toxic things, but it's so heavily weighted on the good side with Ruby that it sometimes makes me think Ai's death at the hands of an obsessive idol otaku who believed she couldn't be a real person because she sang love songs to her fans was a fever dream

And I know this is Aqua's image of Ruby, but it just seems like we're completely ignoring the arc where she went into full on manipulation mode (like father like daughter, I guess)

Anyway, the standout moments of this chapter were that Ai drew a heart on her toothbrush and the below panel. The little Hoshino family melts my ugly, deceptive heart

Christ. I haven't even mentioned Aqua's big ass knife

Aqua won't stab anyone. Just maybe do some light slashing

There is a blatant retcon about Nino and Ryosuke at the hospital because Crow Girl said there was a middle school aged boy there. The only ways this could not be a retcon is if Hikaru lied, Crow Girl lied, or crows really can't see well at night

Next chapter: Hikaru lets Aqua stab him but it bounces off because Nino, who wanted to protect her buddy, secretly made his suit knife proof. Ai's toothbrush turns out to be pivotal to the plot because if only she had used an electric toothbrush as dentists recommend, none of this would have happened.

[irish-urn]

Hey, I just found out that there was a mini lfd fandom on here and I immediately binged all your fanfic! I've seen you mention stuff about the costume dept that worked on the show maybe playing into Dasey, could you maybe expand on that because I'd love to hear your thoughts. <3

HIIIII. Welcome to our little corner of the internet! We are indeed active and (if you're a dasey shipper), we even have a discord where we yammer at each other, so, uh let me know if you're interested in that so I can direct you to the appropriate inviting parties.

(also, if you ever wanna talk about my stories, I am a needy gremlin)

First of all, this is probably gonna be long because despite my English degree, I am a rambler of the highest order (you can tell because my fics are all suuuuuper long). Secondly, I don't have any screenshots to share, so I'll try to be as descriptive as possible, because I genuinely don't have the time to go back and get screenshots (sorry y'all). Thirdly, I AM still in the midst of re-watching the showing all the way through, so all my examples are gonna be from the first half -- BUT DON'T WORRY, I'LL KEEP NOTICING THEM AS I GO -- and fourthly: I wanna talk a little bit about WHY I notice costume choices.

So, I am not a fashion guru or someone who keeps up on trends BUT I am someone who was taught that, as a writer, showing is better than telling. How does a TV show or movie show us things about a character? Costumes are a major part; and I've watched enough behind-the-scenes and read some ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING costume meta from other fandoms, that I think it's fair to say that costumes are speaking VOLUMES. There are whole posts (from, again, other fandoms) on colour theory and I'll touch on that a fair bit; or we could simply talk about how well the clothes sit on the person probably says a lot about how they either view themselves OR want others to view them.

For instance: as a general rule, Casey's clothes are (1) far more form-fitting than Derek's; and (2) overall far more 'put together as a whole' than Derek's. Now, we can be cynical and attribute that to capitalism and sex selling (although Michael Seater is an attractive dude and I wouldn't have been put off by a shirt showing off his arms); OR we could look at it and say: What does this say about Casey and Derek?

Well, we COULD say that it means that Casey is far more comfortable with herself than Derek is. Derek's clothes are far looser, and he often wears layers (jackets over shirts or one shirt over another shirt). Now, partially this was the fashion of the time, but ignore that for a second: this means that Derek is HIDING parts of himself from the world. He's covering himself in literal and figurative layers so that people don't see him naked and vulnerable. Casey, for all that she's clumsy and a nerd and sees herself as not being popular, is also very clearly HERSELF. She loudly proclaims injustices; she runs for class president; she goes up against a bully to protect her stepbrother even though her boyfriend asks her not to... You see where I'm going with this? Derek pretends he doesn't have feelings and bottles them all inside, when we know from watching him in his private moments, that he actually has BIG feelings and a soft, gooey heart.

Take this one step further: what does this mean about how they want to be perceived by others: Casey wants people to believe that she has everything under control. Her hair is done (always way better than anything I did in high school), her outfits match, her nails are done: she might be a keener and a nerd, but she's an EFFECTIVE and PREPARED nerd. Maybe her personality is a turn-off for some, but she can still give a good first impression. Now, for Derek, let's spin back around to my first point: layers were in fashion in the mid-2000s. Derek dresses according to the current trends because he wants to be popular. He also has a certain reputation of being cool, calm, in control, not working too hard, being chill, everything's all good with the V-man. So he dresses 'casually', with his clothes often looking like he just pulled them on. No ironing for Derek!

Also, on another character note before we get into Dasey — Casey dresses very feminine. She wears a lot of skirts and dresses, and when she doesn't, her jeans are often low-rise (again, the style at that time) and her shirts are form-fitting but not too sexy. She's conservative, but still fun underneath the ironed clothes. Casey also wears layers, but those are a lot less noticeable than Derek's, and not quite as often -- that's because Casey is ALSO hiding things; our girl is big on denial. However, because she's our narrator, it's not something they like to draw attention to. She's supposed to be reliable.

(she's not a reliable narrator, fyi).

SO LET'S TALK ABOUT DASEY.

(if this isn't what you wanted, I'm so so sorry)

The first and most consistent impression we get of Derek and Casey is from the theme song and the Genora wedding pictures -- and their outfits demonstrate what I'm talking about above almost perfectly. Casey is wearing a pink dress, very feminine; Derek is wearing a black blazer and a blue dress shirt. (Casey wears a LOT of pink in the show, btw; just a comment on her character). This establishes their characters: see everything I said above -- Derek doesn't wear a tie because he's LOOSE, ya see? -- but also has them in opposite BUT COMPLIMENTARY colours. We see pink vs black and blue and think, Ah, okay, these two are opposites. They're probably gonna fight. And that's true! But they also look really good next to each other! Lots of people, for a good WOW factor, will match pink with black, or blues with pinks. Also to note: Derek's blue shirt is very bright -- it would be easy for them to have him all in dark colours to give us the impression that they are VERY opposite; but they don't. They give him a bright colour TO MATCH her bright colour.

Do you see where I'm going with this?

I've also been noticing things like Casey dressing very similarly to girls Derek declares as "hot" -- see Sandra in Marti the Monster -- and in Venturian Candidate, Derek imagines Casey as a sexy personal assistant. She also is a cheerleader at some point -- and we know that that would drive Derek insane.

Let's also take a moment and return to that pink dress Casey wore to Genora's wedding; when do we see it in the show? When she loans it to Vicki. What happens when Vicki is wearing that dress? Derek makes out with her.

THEY DID NOT HAVE TO DO THIS. Derek could have made out with Vicki when she was wearing ANYTHING else (like the black and white dress she originally has for the wedding and would be a way to show how DIFFERENT she really is from Casey). But they purposely point out that Vicki looks like Casey, Derek calls her a "total babe", and then when Casey very pointedly states aloud that she can loan Vicki a dress, the ONLY time we see Vicki wearing it is when her mouth is attached to Derek's.

FURTHERMORE: why does Casey insist they DRESS up for their presentation on Percy and Mary Shelley (who are married!!! who. are. MARRIED)??? Sometimes they have Derek and Casey wearing similar styles; I think there was an episode where they were both wearing stripes, but in different directions? But, still: there are HUNDREDS of shirts they could have chosen!!! But they keep finding ones that say: "See!! We're opposites, but connected!"

For a final note, I did find this image:

The famed "same difference" scene.

Please note that Derek and Casey are wearing green and purple respectively. Now, green and purple are considered complementary colours (gasp!), because they are on opposite sides of the colour wheel (gasp!!). But, depending on the shades of green and purple and how they're placed together, green and purple work really really well aesthetically. (Also, interestingly enough when I looked at colour theory, green is supposed to be a healing, stabilizing colour while purple is ambitious and creative. Not really important for this moment, but I think says volumes about the characters themselves.)

Also: they are both in a single layer. Derek has his sleeves rolled up -- actually showing skin!! He's being vulnerable purposely!! Casey has her hair tied back but it's falling out and around her face -- she's very casual and herself in this scene BUT ALSO this lets her hide behind some of her hair if she needs to. Metaphorically, she does. It's not a lot of hair, and Derek sees right through her, but it's enough of a barrier to make a point, and a few seconds after this image above, Derek backs off and retreats into himself.

I could go on, but this is long enough and I'm sure as I continue my (very slow) re-watch of the show, I'll find more things that make me scream. But yeah: the costume department knew what they were doing. There's a reason a lot of us ship Dasey.

[starcanwrecked-confessions]

Taking a break from retirement. I don't follow this blog (because the posts here can get a bit too intense sometimes), but when I get bored and miss StarKid (or check if my anon posts got published or reacted to), I do read the posts here. Here’s what I think about the current posts I’ve read.

Why do people who apparently dislike or hate Robert Manion still talk about him, even though the events happened a few years ago? Please ask yourselves this. Sure, he committed his wrongdoings back in 2020 and/or 2021, but is three years not enough to stop talking about it? People generally know his actions were bad. Even those who don't know him or know nothing about SK understand that harassing someone romantically and sexually online and saying insensitive or uninformed things is wrong. (If I miss something or I'm being vague about it, it’s because I avoid that Robert topic and vaguely remember what he actually said online. I don't care to read about them again because I know what's right and what's wrong.)

I don't even hate Robert, probably because I left the fandom when he joined. When I came back, he was no longer a part of SK.

To those who are new, please read Robert's fandom wiki page and look up information online about why he left and the controversies surrounding him in SK’s past. There’s no need to add to the discourse about someone whom StarKid carefully mentions online because of what happened—trust me, there’s already more than enough awareness about it online.

I remember they did not even tag Robert in their IG post about the Twisted anniversary, but they did post his character's photo. Joey briefly mentioned him while talking about TGWDLM or BF during the CC Kickstarter livestreams.

Note, expressing that you miss or wish Robert had stayed because you enjoyed his performances will likely attract replies about what he did, and they often repeat the same things. It’s probably best to avoid this.

He was a good and funny performer, then he made some mistakes, and he left SK.

And yes, Robert still talks and works with Jon Matteson and maybe a few other SK members. They probably made amends. Deal with it. It's their lives and friendships.

P.S. I block Robert Manion tags here on Tumblr, but I’m still curious why he is still discussed by fans as a person and what he did, rather than just as a performer. I can understand fans talking about his past creative work with SK, like how good of a performer he was and about his characters.

P.S.S. This is not an invitation to add more discourse or anon posts about him. If you want to react to this, there’s a comment section under this post and I might reply.

Will there still be a lot of discourse/posts about Rob’s actions in the next 5 or 10 years? Hopefully not, as we all get older and the active and older SK members will be in their 40s or 50s. Heck, they might even talk about him again and maybe open up about what he did (again) as a reflection, kind of like a deep-dive history documentary, when SK reaches their 20th or 30th anniversary or something.

I could say more about this but I'm just gonna say the biggest on my mind after reading this

I think a big reason people still talk is actually to inform fans who don't know, also it can be hard to seperate his performance from him, art vs artists

For you maybe not since you weren't part of the fandom while he was here but for many people he was MASSIVE part starkid and loved by many

Just because it's been 3 years doesn't mean people have to stop talking about it and should only think of the good parts of him, again it's pretty hard to do that

Also "note, expressing that you miss or wish Robert had stayed because you enjoyed his performances will likely attract replies about what he did, and they often repeat the same things. It's probably best to avoid this" what are you getting at here? First off although I can understand being nostalgic for before this all happened sure I'd honestly hope no one who knows what happened actually truly wishes he stayed, he sexually harassed someone in starkid, I don't think he should stay in the same company as the person he harassed. Second yeah people commenting about what he did are going to repeat the same things? Bc they are explaing what the bad things he did were? You can't add on or makr stuff very different when explaing what the bad things someone did were.

[mysticbeaver]

10 for rolf and kevin boy, 11 for kevrolf, 12, 16 & 22 for rolf and kevin boy 😁

Under the cut

10. What's your favourite piece of fanart for Kevin / Rolf?

For Kevin I'd say any fanart by guainumbi, like this one. (Fun fact - although they deactivated ages ago I found the artist on insta and I got in touch with them... they were really happy to hear of people still enjoying their old fanart 😊). Another honorable mention is chocowhomps' awesome stuff, their transmasc Kev AU is kinda out there, but you gotta respect that kind of passion and commitment.

For Rolf I'm thinking this this Rolf galore by mariekanker, they always draw him sooo scrunkly shsjdshjd💥. And shape101's portrayals of Rolf's family and all the OCs they made were fun to see.

11. What's your favourite piece of fanart for kevrolf?

It's gotta be this masterpiece. It blows my mind that it's got WAY much more notes than any other kevrolf fanart (getting close to 1k I think! wtf, that's like top eene posts... well, apart from that ship we don't talk about). I'm also fond of this doodle thing, maybe one of the first ones I ever saw, and it's so ancient I used to think it was done by a storyboard artist, but someone confirmed to me it came from Brah-J (kik0thek1ller) on deviantart (they did fanart way back when the show was still on I think)

12. What's the funniest or craziest AU idea you've ever come up with?

In my deeper brainrot moments I've definitely imagined some zombie survival AU, mostly to entertain myself. It's a common AU idea, I know (oh no, now I'm remembering @torra-and-the-toons's unfinished In The Ed comic, oh the memories... *rubs eyes*)

16. Do people irl know you participate in fandom?

No way haha, I'm kinda reserved about how I spend my time, let alone being in a 20+ year old cartoon fandom. But I guess I could have some fun chats with my big sis about it cause she knows me well for the loonie I am 🤣 and she's a tv show addict anyway.

22. Give us a headcanon for Kevin / Rolf

-Kevin is a bit touch-starved (surprise surprise, I keep drawing parallels between him and Eddy lol), it's kinda self-inflicted because of the tough guy persona he puts up, and how high-strung he secretly is while pretending to be "chill". I think Nazz in her sensitivity might realize this eventually and help him be more genuine with himself and others. Rolf and her should give him some surprise hugs 😁 although it would annoy him (this fanart is sweet btw)

-Despite his frustrations, deep down Rolf is very grateful of his surroundings and how tolerant and friendly everyone is with him, and he grows more conscious of this as he grows up. He could have been a lot more unlucky, especially in school, a kid like that would be a prime target for bullying.

[ilovedthestars]

I don’t know how to do this but for your ask game, Mensah?

Hi Bardic!! don't worry, you did a great job!!

(Send me a character ask game)

First impression

The thing with Murderbot fandom is that I saw a lot of fandom stuff before I actually read the books, so my first impressions were largely formed by other people's analysis. So...probably the general fandom consensus that she's competent, caring, and a Favorite Human not only of Murderbot but many readers as well.

Impression now

I love her!! I like all the PresAux humans for different reasons, but if I have to pick a favorite, it's probably Mensah. She's admirable in so many ways, but still has faults--like the assumptions she makes about what Murderbot wants at the end of ASR, which she learns from after it leaves. She feels so human, which is both a sign of excellent character writing and a perfect counterpoint to Murderbot and its blend of humanness and inhumanity.

Favorite moment

Oh, there are so many to choose from. If I have to pick...something from Exit Strategy, which pre-System Collapse was probably my favorite book in the series (and could still give SC a run for its money). I can't decide between that moment of reunion--the ping, the tell me your name, the hug--and that moment in the shuttle when she grabs it by the collar and tells it No. It probably has to be that one--I will never be over the moment when Murderbot realizes she isn't afraid of it, and it doesn't want her to be.

Idea for a story

Besides that animatic I had in the works a while back (i have no idea when I'll get back to it, but I hope to someday)...

I had a fic idea a while back, inspired by other fic authors' takes on a similar idea, where Mensah talks to an old associate who works with augments, and arranges a way for Murderbot to have its company logos removed. I second-guessed how to handle various aspects of that a lot, but I did enjoy the Emotions it included. It's on the big pile of Things I May Or May Not Ever Finish Writing, alas (but I'd be willing to dig it up and share some snips if anyone's interested)

Unpopular opinion

I don't think Mensah is that controversial lol? I guess maybe...as much as I like ART, I do wish we got to spend more time with Mensah and Murderbot, on Preservation (or elsewhere). They mean a lot to each other, and I would love to linger with their relationship more. I can hope for her to return in future books, although it seems unlikely she'll appear in the next one. Speaking of which, I wanted a little more closure with her and Murderbot at the end of System Collapse (which is why I ended up writing it myself when given the chance for the gift exchange)

Favorite relationship

Murderbot & Mensah, no question. They are peak platonic love and deep, deep care for each other that mostly goes unspoken but is always, always felt. She was one of the first people to really see it, to know it as a person. It ran away from her and then turned back to save her life yet again. She trusts it with her life. It trusts her with its safety. She's its favorite human. They gave us the phrase "I really like you, not in a weird way" as a way for all us fans to say we love each other like they love each other. They make my little aro heart so happy <3

Favorite headcanon

....I'm drawing a blank on this one, honestly? I have trouble drawing the line between a personal interpretation of canon and a headcanon sometimes. But I can't think of anything specific that I headcanon about Mensah.

Thank you for the ask! <3

[yesterdayiwrote]

Fic Writer Interview

thank you for tagging me @mars-mystic

How many works do you have on ao3?

25.

What’s your total word count?

206,948

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

For Better or Worse

It's You I Fell Into

Confide In Me

Rapture

Plead the Fifth

A mix of F1 and HTGAWM fics, although I have generally got less engagement on my F1 fics overall...

Do you respond to comments? Why/ why not?

Yeah, I always try to! I know writing the fic is the labour, but I always feel like people have gone to the effort to acknowledge my work when they leave a comment so I always like to try and acknowledge that and show my gratitude for their time. Its nice to be noticed!

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

driving licence which was my first f1 fic was kind of meant to have an angsty cliffhanger ending, but I did end up relenting and putting a happy ending on it! I'm a sucker for a happy ending.

What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

I tend to end up with 'and they all lived happily ever after' endings on all my fics, cos I really hate ending on a low note, even though I desperately want to teach myself not to be afraid to do that from a plot perspective

Do you write crossovers?

I haven't done yet. I think I'd get myself too muddled?

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

I had hate anons on Tumblr about my fics, but not on my comments. When I wrote for a US fandom, I got in the habit of ending a lot of sentences with a question mark, more as a stylised way of indicating the inflection in their cadence and I had a commenter who would aggressively pick me up on it EVERY time - even when I'd physically gone through and edited and was sure I'd taken them out. I'm sure there was some element of good intentions, but after getting the same criticism of something I'd edited with a fine tooth comb I started to think they were maybe just being unkind on purpose...

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I have a complicated relationship with smut. I can picture what I want to write or the logistics but actually finding the words falls apart. I also get kind of... idk embarrassed? I wish I could write smut with more confidence and more success!

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not to my knowledge. I did steal a bit of one old fic for a new fic but is it stealing if it's from yourself?

Have you ever had a fic translated?

nope!

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

yes! Years ago before the advent of ao3! I can't even remember exactly what happened in it or which fandom it was for

What's your all-time favourite ship?

recency bias is making me think Galex, but Coliver from HTGAWM was my last ship and I did LOVE them. I always felt slightly freer writing them due to them being a fictional ship i think?

What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

Haha at the moment all of them because writers block has been kicking my ass big style. I had a rush of creativity which allowed me to get my two girl george fics started and I'm struggling so hard to get them moving again. I really want to though even if it takes a lifetime

What are your writing strengths?

I think I'm good at setting the scene, largely because I visualise a lot of my fics as a TV show in my head as I'm writing? Although this does sometimes work to my detriment because I'm trying to hard to lay the scene EXACTLY as I'm visualising it so other people can see the same?

What are your writing weaknesses?

Smut for definite... idk I read other fics that have just great turn of phrase and I haven't mastered that. I think I can get too reliant on the dialogue rather than what the characters are thinking or doing as well...

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I don't really have any? I think unless it's for a specific creative purpose then just write dialogue in the language of the fic rather than the language it's spoken. If you do write dialogue in other languages you have to make it translatable to the reader?

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

my first fandom I wrote fic for was for my boyband crush many moons ago. Started writing a lot of very terrible self insert fic as a teenager but moved over to slash after a while.

What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?

I do keep meaning to write Gewis. I have wips I posted, and some I lost, then I had some very complicated feelings about them and fell out of love with them for various reasons and now I kind of regret not getting anything done when it was still relevant?

What's your favourite fic you've written?

I have a very love hate relationship with all my fics. Confide in Me is probably my favourite in terms of plot, but I read it back and wish I'd done some things differently with it. I always end up going to soap opera-y rather than genuine angst. Idk I'm too self critical lol.

tagging @63historian, @ohblimeygeorge, @russilton .... I forget who out of my moots are fic writers and idk who's done this before! Anyone that wants to do it who hasn't I guess!

[thebreakfastgenie]

Hawkeye, 2,3,5,9 :3c

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

I mean really where to begin, I could go with anything, but I'm going to highlight something I think doesn't get enough attention in fandom: I like that he's cool. Hawkeye is the big man on campus. He's popular. Guys like him, Radar looks up to him as a male role model (bad idea but also maybe good idea), women adore him, the man gets laid all the time. He's very good at his job, so he's respected professionally, but he's also well-liked. He's well-liked because he's funny, hot, friendly, and usually nice. He's also kind, but he's nice to people, too, unless he feels they've earned derision (e.g. they support the army). Hawkeye is a chad! He's also very anti-establishment. I've called him a jock before but I think he's more of a greaser. A hero to the students, despised by the principal (beloved by the cool teacher, Henry). This is a really important part of the show. If Hawkeye were an underdog outsider it wouldn't have the same impact that he hates the army so much. MASH uses his strong social position to communicate the morality of the show, which is topsy-turvy by conventional standards. He loves sex, booze, and gambling, he breaks rules and flouts authority, but he's morally right because he knows war is wrong. And through loving Hawkeye, maybe we start to think about whether sex, booze, and gambling are really so bad, whether rules shouldn't be broken sometimes, whether authority shouldn't be questioned. I like that he's the popular kid.

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

This one is really hard because even the bad things make him a better character to me... I genuinely don't even mind that he's kind of sexist, like, I'd be surprised if he wasn't. I guess my least favorite thing is some of the attempts at character development... I don't mind Hawkeye being less interested in casual sex (for him as a character, I actually do kind of mind the show going that direction in the conservative 80s because nothing exists in a vacuum) but the way it's handled in Who Knew totally sucks. He says he always made sure the women he slept with knew he'd be gone if they wanted a more serious relationship... that's what you're supposed to do! That's being honest! It's okay to only want casual sex and the way it's framed suggests it's not! But I think if they'd gone the other way, and had Hawkeye actually take advantage of women by implying he was open to something more serious than he really was (as is implied early on, although there's often subtext that the nurses are just in it for fun too which softens it a lot) it would come off too gross and make him too unlikable.

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

Honestly the first song is Saturday in the Park by Chicago because of GFA. July 4th, 1953 was a Saturday! Required viewing courtesy of @movietonight:

Other than that... I just checked my MASH characters as Billy Joel songs post and I gave Hawkeye I Go to Extremes which makes sense. I also associate Teachers by Leonard Cohen and Fourth of July by Sufjan Stevens with him.

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

Yes, but if we had a third roommate that person would kill us both. Our place would be disgusting, but neither one of us would get mad at the other about it because we'd both be equally responsible. We'd be complete disasters but I think we'd have fun.

[16ruedelaverrerie]

Your instincts are animalistic and your deductive reasoning skills are razor-sharp! And you were completely correct! Although, I do have to confess, there are more than enough typos and grammar mistakes to go around in things I've written... fics, sure, but also just... comments and tumblr posts and whatnot. My wake is LITTERED with errors. With fics I can go in surreptitiously and tend to them hoping that no one has noticed, but with alarming regularity I will edit a comment reply being like "Sorry to drop this notification in your inbox... I just spotted a typo and I had to fix it..." so you know, you were more lenient than you needed to be in your assessment of my punctiliousness, but you were STILL COMPLETELY CORRECT.

That having been said, you're probably somewhat off the mark with regard to my vibes as person! I mean, I'm not an intentionally bad person, you know, I don't go around being a provocateur, but mostly it's just that people tend to reserve a lot of the energy it takes to be amiable for the real-life relationships they have. Me, I treat all the people in my life like dirt and then I come on the Internet and kiss all the babies in town. (That's a joke! I don't treat the people in my life like dirt! But certainly I enjoy explaining myself or pontificating at length much much less in real life, and maybe something of that willingness to keep talking can read as amiability online. )

As a person who is DEFINITELY IN MY WALLS, could you earn your rent and hang out with my cat while I am away?? Saba keeps throwing up from boredom / loneliness / a desire to protest my absences, and I am as concerned about his GI tract as I am tired of blotting the rug.....................

(💓You are very sweet and this message was a big serotonin boost, thank you)

No! I didn't! That dating sim mockup remains, as it began, a one-off joke about grabbing Gavin by the throat more than anything else kjfld;hgkld If anyone passing by right now wants to hit up @kenoa-ajisai-no-niwa about putting something together, that would be awesome!

I am the way that I am, so I would only really feel comfortable writing for the game, rather than drawing-- but division of labor aside, I'm just generally anxious about collaborative ventures like this occurring at this stage of the fandom life cycle. I've been part of a few late-fandom projects of this nature, and they've all sort of... dissolved into tears. There's no established graceful way for someone to lose interest in a fandom and step away from their collaborative commitments, you know? The project falls apart without them, but it's also difficult to ask someone to keep putting their time and labor into something that no longer interests them, and won't earn them college credits or a paycheck.

When a fandom is young, there's enough energy in the air to push a project to the finish line, right? Several years into a fandom, I can't help but feel that these projects tend to sink into a kind of "Well... it's a lot of work... and who are we even making it for, anyway... is it worth doing all of this just so that we can get like three comments" is-there-anyone-out-there morass. That's not a rule, of course, just a regrettable pattern that I've personally experienced-- but it's what comes to mind for me, as I ruminate on the possibility of this hypothetical dating sim.

...And yet, I'd still probably write for such a hypothetical dating sim, if it were to hypothetically exist

[dearweirdme]

there are always fans who overcompensate whenever bts interact with a woman in a professional setting, and it’s because they want to appear like they are not a y/n, so they go over and beyond to look like they’re completely okay with the female involvement, and in doing so just bring out weird takes and suggest that bts can’t interact with a woman without it being sexual/romantic. it’s disrespectful to the woman - because ur seeing her role as only that - and it’s disrespectful to bts because you’re assuming they’re incapable of female friendships. with a fandom so big it’ll be near impossible to find a balance of normal people lol but i’ve looked at the initial reactions and she’s been well received! since this song is one jk didn’t himself write but rather chose when he heard it, and since i assume it’ll be heavily promoted, i am fairly sure it’ll have a vague romantic plot line but i do sort of wish the conversation steered in the direction of them as actors, because she is a really good one, and this will be something new for jungkook too!! that being said, of the other female appearances in mvs, like halsey and becky g and soyoon, there was barely any romantic plot - although they were also collabs so that could be why! i don’t know han sohee too well but she does come across as dressing similar to jungkook, and she loves a nice tattoo too, but she has also been in a drama with hyungsik and was at the dream premiere so, maybe she’s friendly with all of wooga? i’m intrigued as to how this collab came about

Hi anon!

One of the things I dislike in Kpop, is that female and male artists aren't 'allowed' (not sure if it's actually a rule, or just a societal thing) to interact normally. In real life, men and women are very capable to just interact friendly without it being a big deal. I've had more male friends than female ones, and there was no romance involved with any of them, from both sides. I get that it was probably to prevent gossip and rumors, but it makes every time they do interact with a woman this really big deal.

I look at this like a business deal. Jk wanted an actress for his mv, they chose her because they liked her style and her acting probably. That's it for me. I hope they got along well, but I did see her with Wooga squad at the Dream premiere I think, so yeah he probably already knew her. Nice link you made there.

Personally I'm completely fine with her in his mv, I'd be completely fine if they were friends, and I'd be completely fine with them being more (just dont think that's the case). But women and men working together shouldn't be this big of a deal. Most men and women are perfectly capable of being normal towards each other.

[struggle-but-its-all-ocean-floor]

I'm sorry I left this bitter ask earlier on. I didn't mean to rain on your parade. I'm just trying to work through my feelings and I really wish I could go back to enjoy a comeback. BTS really was my comfort place and I need it with everything going on my IRL. I miss them so much, I fear I'm never getting that feeling again, even when they comeback. I already have been pushed away from the fandom because I couldn't express how uncomfortable I felt with Seven and now I feel so lonely. I'm trying to just enjoy the older music, but letting go of keeping up to date and being 100% invested is hard. Really hard.

I'm happy for you that you can enjoy this comeback, but he lost me for good. "These are love songs, to comfort ARMY" and then he goes on to perform 3D Jack Harlow version. What's comforting in being compared to a dead body? Before release maybe he didn't get it, but we know he monitors fandom reaction, and there is an alternate version. He just wants to be cool and edgy but banks on ARMY blindly supporting him no matter what. I feel betrayed, not because he went explicit, I was fully expecting it, but because he's doubled faced. Comforting ARMY my @ss. Just admit you wanted the fuck boy image. He's so talented, but he just throws BTS legacy out the window. Namjoon sit next to the SK president and explained how he consulted scholars to avoid misogynist lyrics ffs. And 3D isn't the only song I have a problem with, just the worst. "It's just lyrics and images" and what are BTS songs? It just feels like a slap in the face.

I think he performed the Jack Harlow version because the alternate version is not in Golden, which he was promoting - it's the feature that opens the album. I also doubt he saw fans objecting to the lyrics, unless the Koreans fans were complaining as well, and a lot of them probably don't speak English well enough to be as bothered by the lyrics as the international fandom as a whole was. Although a lot of Armys didn't like Jack Harlow, the song still did well, and tons of people did the TikTok challenge. Jungkook probably concluded that, while Seven was better received, people still enjoyed the song. BTS may monitor what Armys say but there is ton of stuff they miss, or ignore...

Jungkook isn't doubled face. "Comforting Armys" doesn't mean lyrics like Spring Day. He brings comfort to Army by delivering cool songs, performances, and content which distract Army from their daily lives, providing them with comfort and entertainment. Also, Seven is chill and relaxing - just hearing his voice in the track is comforting. There are three ballads in Golden as well, and all songs except for SNTY and 3D are rather chill and comforting. Jungkook's voice is comforting to me regardless of the lyrics or genre. He wasn't lying when he said he wants to comfort Army. Giving back the love we give him is one of his biggest motivations. He wasn't fully sure that he wanted to release an album, but I think Army was a huge factor in him doing so.

Jungkook doesn't want to be "cool and edgy". I mean, yes, in a way, but he isn't counting on Armys blindly supporting him. He trusts we will support him because we have so far, and he's also confident in the songs he's putting out because he's making music he'd like to listen to, and expects Army to be big fans of pop - kpop is pop after all... He's not interested in lyrics or a message, so he doesn't get that fans might be. Is he supposed to live in fear? Is it not his career and his life, his choice? Armys for the most part have liked his solo career. There was only a somewhat negative response to 3D. Obviously, Seven divided a few Armys, but the reaction was generally positive. Same for Golden - even on Reddit it's mostly positive. Plus, like I said, he is much more aware of K-Armys' response to his music, and, from what I've seen, they are even more positive than international Armys.

Jungkook is not RM, and I'd say you're giving RM too much credit. BTS have performed Boy in Luv and Danger in recent years, despite acknowledging how sexist their early music was. Girl of My Dreams has some disturbing lyrics from Juice Wrld yet Suga is on it. Jimin was in a song with a rapist. Bad Decisions featured Snoop Dog who defended Bill Cosby. There are plenty of examples of BTS, including BTS, collabing with, or expressing admiration for, very problematic artists. MJ, for example, was a pedophile, yet Jungkook and Jhope in particular are big fans, as are the rest of BTS (and the world...).

I don't understand how Jungkook is throwing out BTS's legacy. He built that legacy too. Sure, the "fuck boy" image that he pushed a bit with Seven and 3D, but not really with SNTY or Golden as a whole, contrasts a little with BTS's image, but it doesn't contradict it. The sexist lyrics in 3D were not his. RM and the rest of BTS get along with Bang Si-hyuk and support New Jeans and are okay with MHJ despite both being objectively terrible people. They also support brands that are unethical (they support consumerism, aren't environmentally conscious, and the brands they endorse are corrupt and built on labor rights abuse and the inhumane treatment of workers). BTS's legacy is a mixed bag and always will be. It's build on fans mass buying albums and merch, and spending their money recklessly just so a bunch of millionaires can top the charts. Also, if we're talking about meaningless love lyrics, V didn't write his own lyrics either, and BTS didn't write the English trilogy.

I feel like you're romanticizing BTS too much, even if I understand that a big part of BTS's selling point, and what I love about them as well, is them writing their own lyrics. But that was mostly always RM, and the rap line, and BTS could only give their input on concepts that the company wanted and never had the freedom to freely pick the songs on their group albums. A lot of BTS's songs are just "lyrics" and "images". Their early music, for example, had a lot of romantic lyrics that RM wrote because Bang PD wanted them to have a softer concept that appealed to fans (eg., I Need U).

Anyway, thank you for the follow-up ask. I've been harsh about BTS, and particularly Jungkook, before too. I understand that when you're upset everything seems worse than it is, and I understand that it can be really isolating in the fandom because everyone's aggressively positive all the time. I had to unfollow tons of people after Seven because I was so disappointed in the song but kept seeing everyone praise it. On Friday I also blocked out the fandom because I couldn't relate to their reaction to Golden. I also struggle with wanting to be up to date with everything BTS do and not having enough time or even interest. This is especially worse with Jungkook (that pressure).

I could tell you that it's okay to let go of BTS, but it's a bit like giving up on a huge part of you - like losing a limb. I get it, that's what it means to be Army, it's sad sometimes too. If you feel lonely you can talk to me. If not for my anons, I'd feel really lonely in the fandom as well, which I don't even consider myself to be a real part of. I'm Army but I'm not in the fandom, if that makes sense.

It might take time, but perhaps after they've all enlisted, you, and I, will have time to reconnect with BTS without the pressure of keeping up with them. The constant releases and content fatigue me too - it can be overwhelming. When BTS reunite, it won't be the same, but hopefully we'll all come together again, even if for the last time...

Thanks for the ask!

[ahiddenpath]

Life Talk/Creative Talk

Life Update beneath the cut!

The Creative Stuff first, for anyone looking for fic update info.

I will be traveling soon! When I return, I will have a few digimon fandom events to prep for (Koushiro Week, the 02 countdown, and Jyou week). I am not sure if I'll be able to get to all of these things, so apologies if it doesn't pan out.

I'm not sure what's going to happen next with my fics and the drawing series I have open. I usually have a schedule of updates and an idea of where I'm going, but right now, I need to focus on other things. I'll still be here, and I'll even be creating, but not with the intention of maintaining constant/consistent updates.

I also haven't decided what my Nanowrimo 2023 project will be, nor if I can even participate this year. I have a few ideas, including making a time-based goal for myself in November (ie, write for 45 min per day) instead of a word count goal (ie, write 1,667 words/day). That will remove the pressure, but keep me writing. But I don't know what project I'll work on.

Life Stuff

I'm not really sure what to write here, if I'm honest! Work remains stressful, my relationship with my mom is strained following all of that nonsense, and every day is a fight to scrape energy together. It's sad and wild to think that there were times I wanted to scrap the vacation I have coming up because of how stressed I am and how much work planning it is.

My husband and I have been talking about making some big life changes, namely the possibility of having a child. He's more into the idea than I am, bluntly. He's not pushing me, but for the first time, he's saying he wants one when I bring it up (I tend to ask how he's feeling about it once or twice per year, he has always said, "Maybe someday," now he's saying, "Yes, if you want a kid, too.")

I've always told my husband that I can't do a child and work. I can barely crawl through the days with just the job, and I am made to understand that children bring more work with far less sleep. My husband's job could support a three person family, although we will be sitting down to work all of that out before we make any plans.

Truthfully, I've never liked my career or found fulfillment from work. I'm interested in what I do, yes. But the stress of working in biopharma is unbelievable, and it does not play nicely with my anxiety disorder. I work for money- or, more accurately, for a sense of security. But I do have an active mind that requires exercise and feeding. My husband suggests that I try to become a novelist as I take care of our kid, if I don't want to work and have a kid. He works from home and can work whatever hours he feels like, so I wouldn't be alone.

Right now, we're in the "what if" discussions. I don't know, for me, I've never seen kids or family as a positive thing; my childhood was something I survived. My understanding is that some people from similar situations want to give the love/security they lacked to their own kid. But I can't fathom being a mom or having a kid around. My husband, in contrast, came from a healthy family and has no mood disorders.

He would be the best father in the world. I would love to give a kid such an amazing dad. Bluntly, I am not sure if they'd have a great mother, though. When asked if I want a kid, it's just like... How the heck would I know? How do I know if I want something I haven't experienced?

If anyone has been thinking of this stuff, I'd love to hear what you have to say! Parents, too. Just know that this is very much in the "maybe" area, lol, I am under zero pressure or duress. I just have no idea what I want.

I hope you're all doing well <3

[thesconesyard]

Hiy~ =)

So, I'd like to send you a ⭐free pass to rant⭐. Also... I'm going to admit that I haven't read anything of only yours. Although your stories were recommended to me (I think we can guess by whom?), it fell onto the list of things I truly meant to do but never found time for.

But I remember hearing some wonderful things about your "Prompt-ly Yours" series, so I'd like to ask you about that one~ 🌈🌠

Not me looking around like mad, all “omg! Someone’s asking! Act normal! Act NORMAL!”

Ok, ok, ok.

I’ll do the Prompt-ly Yours, then a free for all. (Oh no, I can already feel myself getting ready for a ramble…)

So Prompt-ly Yours was my return to writing and my return to fan fiction. And mostly importantly, the first story in forever (possibly ever!) that actually had an ending. I’d been dancing around with the idea of McCoy and Scotty in a story, but never quite hit on what until I saw a list of sentences prompts and really the first five or six on the list felt like they told a story on their own. Then it became a challenge to myself to write something coherent and use all 100(!) sentence prompts on the list.

And I managed it! And it made sense! And, most of all, coming back to writing made me happy!!

Ok, so little things about it. Dr. Barrolds is named for a joke between hubs and I, in hopes he would read it that far and get a laugh (he didn’t.) One of my favorite moments in the story is probably when they tell each other they love each other the first time. Another fave is the last scene when Scotty ruins the moment interrupting McCoy, but was about to do the same thing. And, poor Chekov, but when he and Sulu get an earful and have to share breakfast with Scones the next morning. Chekov’s extreme reluctance to look at them, McCoy and Sulu’s joint embarrassment and Scotty’s total nonchalance kill me every time.

And free pass!

Boaty McBoatstory was a placeholder name that stuck. It also contains another joke for hubs that he’s never read.

A Home with a Hearth was originally going to be a stand alone, and then as I began thinking and plotting out Wherever You Are, I Am, I realized it fit as part of the Prompt-verse and I’m honestly looking forward to when I get to where it fits in.

I was super nervous when I wrote Forgiveness, and it wasn’t honestly going to be a smut when I started it! But then one thing led to another and well 🤷🏻‍♀️ Would I write another? Maybe. If people were interested but I don’t know if I could do as good a job. I kind of prefer bringing the stories right up to the moment and letting the reader picture what happens.

Cor Lapideum is probably a lot cheesy, but I gave it all my sweetness.

One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Temporal Anomaly is entirely because I wanted aos McCoy to be surprised by tos McCoy saying the line “you’ve haven’t married’em yet?”

A lot of my stories circle around one dumb idea lol.

Prior to writing Scones stories, an old high school friend and I (in hs) wrote a pair of back to back tales where we walked through some kind of portal and ended up in Star Wars (she wrote it. She was Luke and I was Han. Genderbent too.) The second story sent us to Lord of the Rings as Frodo (me) and Aragorn (her.) Mark Hamill made an appearance stealing our gray portal home. The series was supposed to continue into the Thrawn trilogy and the Hobbit, but we got lazy. (And busy! Jobs and school!)

My next big fandom story (don’t laugh!) was Monty Python adjacent about a girl who somehow goes back in time to 1968 and gets a job at the BBC for a mad genius writer. The characters were all original, but based of the different pythons. Russell Andrews and Ruby Fontana, my dearest, beloved OCs.

Ok…. I probably wrote waaaay more than necessary. Whoops. Anyone wants to know more feel free to ask. Maybe someday I might even post some Ruby Fontana if anyone’s interested (It’s cool if not.)

Thank you for the ask @l0vel3ss-l1nds3y 💙❤️❤️💙❤️💙

[ooapple-greaseoo]

I think akechi SHOULD get a redemption Arc sometimes I feel like the fandom forgets that despite everything he was a child while doing this he wasn't mature enough to make such big decisions as murder and no adults around him were helping him and he was all alone with this anger boiling inside of him and although I do relate and sympathize with him I do think he should apologize to characters like haru and futaba but in my mind I don't think he regrets all his actions I think he more regrets the effects of his actions and he needs to live with that and I think his whole relationship with the protagonist is what would drive him to get this redemption arc because the protagonist understands him and that's what's special about the relationship and that's why people ship them so much. The protagonist and Akechi are the same person it's just the protagonist had the rest of the phantom thieves and Goro had no one until he met the protagonist and he made his decision and he's lying with the bed he made. His mom died his father abandoned him before he was even born he was in the foster care system and later on getting used by his father and he ended up dying alone but however with the knowledge that he would not be forgotten by the one person who truly knew him who carried a piece of him. Goro akechi is a deep character and I think Atlus did an amazing job in fleshing out his character and I do hope they may do more of that as a fan but if goro were not to come up again I think I'd be content. There's so much discussions you can have about his character and technically none of it's right and none of it's wrong the only things right is what's solidly said in the game but we don't know if that's actual fact because goro is known to have masks like how his whole detective Prince persona was fake even in royal him what if he was just playing a character trying to get the protagonist to finally accept that he needs to let him go to move on with his life and I think that's what persona 5 strikers symbolize it's the protagonist moving on from losing someone who understands him much more than his friends and knows him in a way that he doesn't let anybody else. Although he is not directly mentioned in strikers there's definitely illusions to him especially when they are talking about shido with zenkichi and how they've all been through this kind of thing before. It's just displays how deep that their relationship was together and I'm not just talking in like a romantic way since I ship them it's just they were pitted against each other by a god let that sink in A GOD who decided he wanted to play games with humanity pitted these two people against each other they were meant to be rivals they were meant to understand each other. And like akechi himself said if they met up years before maybe even just a month before all that happen could have been different. Anyway thank you for coming to my TED talk.

[zodiyack]

Rude! (3,000+ Follower Fic Special 1/3)

Pairing: Billy Hargrove x Female!Hopper!Reader

Warnings: Swearing, Billy stuff, lyrics, fluff

Song: Rude by Magic!

Words: 1,798

Summary: Billy's love for Hopper's daughter is too strong to be stopped by the tough Chief Jim Hopper. Despite being told "not in a thousand years", he plans to love her regardless.

Note: Thank you so so much! I love you all, and writing your ideas, as well as sharing mine with you, has been so fucking fun and amazing! I'm sorry for my lack of words, I wish being an author came in handy with writing this, however, all I can say is that I love you all from the bottom of my heart. I've seen people do shout-outs, and ask-related stuff with their follower things, and I may do that, I'm not sure. For now, I hope you enjoy this... Thank you all, again!

Also 1/3 means that there will be two other fics released for the 3,000+ follower present!

Taglist: @urie-bowie-mercury, @matth1w, @redspaceace-writes, @fandom-puff, @darling-i-read-it, @simonsbluee, @sebastianstanslefteyebrow, @dpaccione

Masterlist | Stranger Things Masterlist

"Saturday morning, jumped out of bed and put on my best suit. Got in my car and raced like a jet all the way to you. Knocked on your door with my heart in my hands, to ask you a question, 'cause I know that you're an old-fashioned man. Yeah."

Billy was freshly graduated, working as a lifeguard whilst his girlfriend worked her own job, both saving up for their chance to ditch Hawkins and move to California. Sweet Cali. Billy was excited to show the love of his life around the place he called home. Though, physically, he left the salty ocean and windy beach behind, the place never truly left him.

You could see it in his eyes. The waves crashing in his blue orbs. He swore the scent had just barely clung to his belongings; the smell of the tangy air that followed a majority of the state. Working at a pool was the closest he got to the memory of California. Chlorine was most certainly not the salted ocean waters, but with the circumstances, he decided it'd do.

The way his face lit up whenever he talked about his home...it made Y/n more and more excited to see it. His girlfriend had grown up in Hawkins, stayed there her whole life. Never once did the Hoppers leave Hawkins.

But the second that was introduced to Billy, he knew it had to change.

Although they were saving for a big move, Billy had...other things in mind with what to do with his first large pay-check (or series, rather. Working as a lifeguard didn't pay well with just one check). He began to work more shifts to make up for the money he'd spent, and one day after calling in for a day off, he decided to put his plan into action.

"Billy, stop messing with the tie."

"It's annoying." Hands slapped away his attempts of adjusting the black silk tie.

"Well it won't stop being annoying if you keep fucking it up."

For the first time in a long time, Neil Hargrove was calm. Not happy, not amused, not pissed off for some unjust reason- just calm. He wasn't wreaking havoc and he wasn't being an asshole to his son. Billy hadn't seen this side of his dad in quite some time, in fact, he thought something important was going on and he was about to fuck it all up. And then, Susan retreated to the living room with a camera and a freshly ironed suit.

"You're not putting me in that."

"And who asked for your opinion?" Neil deflected with a raised brow. One heavy sigh later and Billy was leaving the bathroom, dawning the whole black and white getup.

Susan clasped her hands over her mouth, a tear leaving her eye, "You look so handsome! Just like your dad!"

Billy rolled his eyes, "Great."

However, his careless attitude was swept under the rug when the blue Camaro pulled up to the police station, interrupting a clearly distressed Chief Hopper bickering with his daughter. Billy had to get himself together before stepping out of the car, jaw slack after seeing the beauty he got to call his date.

"Hello Mr-"

"Don't even try play nice with me, Hargrove. She's not going anywhere with you. End of story." Hopper kept his eyes trained on the blond, body tense like a snake preparing to strike it's prey.

Y/n grabbed Billy's arm, slowly directing him to the car, "And in the sequel, we find out I am going with Billy. End of that story."

"There is no 'sequel.' The writer got drunk and lazy." She paused, turning to face her father who stood tall, arms crossed and face unamused.

"So his daughter picked up where her father left off, and then the sequel was published and the two lived happily ever after, the end."

While her dad attempted to search for a line that would better hers and force her to stay, she pushed Billy toward the driver's side and slid into the car as fast as she could, rolling down the window as Billy started it up. "Bye! I'll be back before midnight!"

The two drove off toward the school, leaving behind a trail of dust and very, very, pissed off Hopper.

Prom was better than Billy thought it would be. He didn't want to go at first, but after Max found out and spoke to her mom about it (the little redhead a cupid-in-the-making), Neil pushed him to go (as he was "doing something else besides being a lazy-no-good rebel"). It was then that he called Y/n and asked if she'd be going.

The suit came in handy. Clashing with his rocker aesthetic, he put it back on once more. The once-annoying tie proved to be somewhat okay in the end.

Can I have your daughter for the rest of my life? Say yes, say yes, 'cause I need to know. You say I'll never get your blessing "till the day I die, tough luck my friend, but the answer is no!"

Why you gotta be so rude? Don't you know I'm human too? Why you gotta be so rude? I'm gonna marry her anyway. Marry that girl, marry her anyway! Marry that girl, yeah, no matter what you say! Marry that girl, and we'll be a family! Why you gotta be so rude?

With a deep breath, he ran-over the conversation in his head once more. Like a script for an actor, he had thought of every possible outcome and every possible line for him to face it with. He almost chickened out as his fist rose to the door, but it was too late, for his knuckles rapped against it before he realized he was even knocking.

El opened the door, eyes wide when she saw the familiar mullet and button-down. "Papa..." She muttered as she backed away and out of view.

Hopper traded places with her, his lazy expression sobering up instantaneously, replaced with a grumpy scowl. "Hargrove."

"Mr. Hopper, sir."

"What are you doing on my front porch?"

He swallowed roughly, palms sweaty against his sides. "I was wondering if I could talk to you."

"You seem to be doing just that right now, Hargrove." Hop crossed his arms and clenched his jaw.

Well, this was certainly not something Billy had thought of. He was on panic mode internally, attempting to find any response that could save his hide and accomplish what he set out to do. Unfortunately, the word-vomit button seemed to be misplaced under the button labeled "help".

"I'd like to marry your daughter, sir."

Hop's eyes grew just as big in size as El's had when she opened the door. He choked on his own surprise, coughing it off, then glaring at the boy in front of him. "Over my dead body, Hargrove. If that's all, I'd strongly advise you to get off of my fucking porch while you're still alive."

I hate to do this, you leave no choice; can't live without her. Love me or hate me, we will be boys- standing at that alter. And we will fly away, to another galaxy, you know. You know she's in love with me, she will go anywhere I go-

"Billy, he's just stubborn."

"No, no, I don't think he likes me."

Y/n sighed, rubbing her boyfriend's back. He hadn't told her of his proposal plans, only that Hop seemed to have it out for him. "It'll take time, but he'll warm up to you!"

"It's been how many years since he's met me?"

"To be fair, your reputation wasn't doing you any good until now..."

"It's not like that was fucking obvious." He slouched further down in the front seat of his Camaro. To Billy, all hope was lost. If he couldn't get Hopper to give him his blessing, he was sure he'd lose his goddamned mind.

Y/n frowned. Her frown flipped around as an idea popped into her head, her lips finding Billy's knuckles and quirking his attention. "Even if he never likes you, I'm not going anywhere."

Billy laughed softly, "he'll fucking kill me if you go against him."

"Eh, that's only if he can catch us."

"You're out of your fucking mind, Y/n Hopper."

"I know."

The rest of the night was spent in the Camaro, of course, doing one of Billy's favorite pastimes. By the time the sun rose, Billy was sneaking a kiss to a giggling Y/n before dropping from her window in the cabin and running to his car, parked far enough that Hop or El wouldn't notice. He blew her one more kiss, which she pretended to catch, then he broke into a sprint.

Maybe, he thought, just maybe; there was still a chance.

His knuckles hit the door again, shifting on his feet nervously. It swung open to reveal Hopper, an unimpressed look bringing no surprise Billy's way. It was quite expected, honestly.

"What." His tone made it clear he wasn't up for fucking around.

"Mr. Hopper, if you just give me one chance to prove to you that-"

"No, no, no, no, no. Let me make it very clear to you that I want you to have nothing to do with my daughter whatsoever. No marriage, no friendship, I don't even approve of you guys fucking or whatever-"

"We're in a serious relationship, sir. It's nothing like you think it is."

This made Hop laugh. He continued to do so, holding his stomach, until he realized Billy was unamused. "Oh, you're serious?... My answer is still no, Hargrove. My answer will always be no. Go find someone else's daughter's heart to break. You're not hurting mine."

"It's not like-"

Before he could even get the words out, he was met with a door in his face. Turned down, again.

Can I have your daughter for the rest of my life? Say yes, say yes, 'cause I need to know. You say I'll never get your blessing "till the day I die, tough luck my friend, 'cause the answer's still no!"

Why you gotta be so rude? Don't you know I'm human too? Why you gotta be so rude? I'm gonna marry her anyway. Marry that girl, marry her anyway! Marry that girl, yeah, no matter what you say! Marry that girl, and we'll be a family! Why you gotta be so rude, rude?

Again, again, and again, Billy incessantly pleaded with Hopper. Different tactics were all met with the same answer; rejection.

He held up a sign outside the cabin, only for Hopper to close the curtain and chuckle as he sipped his coffee.

He asked at the door again, only for Hop to threaten to give him a black eye (which was met with "aren't you the sheriff? Isn't that illegal?").

He raced past the police station, Max leaning out the window with another sign, only for Hop to threaten them with holding cells.

He even went as far as to ask Max and El to help, but Hopper had none of that, and sent Max home with a rant full of nos.

However, if Jim Hopper thought any of it would get it into Billy's head that getting his blessing was just not happening- he was as wrong as Nancy when she claimed not to have feelings for Jonathan.

Billy had another plan in mind, and this one was impossible to say no to.

Can I have your daughter for the rest of my life? Say yes, say yes, 'cause I need to know. You say I'll never get your blessing "till the day I die, tough luck my friend- but no still means no!"

"Hopper." Billy stood before his desk, interrupting his nice date with a delicious doughnut, and earning a very annoyed glare. "I got Miss Byer's blessing. Aren't you two a thing?"

"You son of a-"

"I got Eleven's too."

"Hargrove, I'm gonna-"

"Before you cuss me out, I think you should know that I've got a stable job, an interview with a mechanic so I have a job when the pool closes for the winter, and I've got a house on the market I'm looking at. I'm devoted to your daughter and she's devoted to me. You may not like me, but I think you're a great dad, better than the one I was unfortunately stuck with. You raised a strong and amazing woman. She's incredible and I admit, she deserves better than me-"

"You don't have to say that twice." Hopper huffed, crossing his arms.

"I know she deserves so much better than me, I'm surprised she's even with me too. But she loves me, and I think you can see that. I love her too. I would never, in a million years, break her heart."

Jim stayed silent for a few minutes. The silence brought uneasiness to Billy, but that was intentional on Hopper's behalf. He finally piped up with a cough, clearing his throat, before his piercing eyes met Billy's blue orbs.

"I'll hold you to that, Hargrove."

Why you gotta be so rude? Don't you know I'm human too? Why you gotta be so rude? I'm gonna marry her anyway. Marry that girl, marry her anyway! Marry that girl, yeah, no matter what you say! Marry that girl, and we'll be a family! Why you gotta be so rude? Why you gotta be so rude?

Bonus:

(after the wedding)

"What was that about a no?" Billy quipped with his infamous smirk.

"You're lucky I'm sheriff, Hargrove."

Why you gotta be so rude?

[merrilark]

Maybe a controversial take, but I think that a lot of the TUA fandom would be happier if we stopped trying to compare The Umbrella Academy to S.tran.ger Th.ings in terms of how much more attention ST gets. I know it’s frustrating when our favorite show doesn’t get the same amount of time, funding, or advertising, but it’s important to look at things from a business perspective.

According to Netflix, Stra.nger Thin.gs has been continually on the global Top 10 list since mid-May, and it's still going strong. It's also the second show in Netflix's history to surpass a billion hours viewed. They know that ST is their cash cow, it consistently has the most viewers, sells the most merch, and it is by far one of their most popular shows. Whether we like it or not, though The Umbrella Academy has done well to keep up, it just doesn't pull those kinds of numbers and its fandom is pretty small by comparison, which is completely understandable. ST thrives on nostalgia and in general is the type of story that more people are into. Meanwhile, TUA is kinda weird, kinda offbeat, kinda juvenile, and its target audience is much smaller than ST which draws horror fans, suspense fans, DnD fans, '80s kids, '80s parents, teens, etc. etc. You know what I'm getting at. ST is just way more relatable and interesting to a broader variety of people, and it many ways, that makes it a very "safe" show. So it's not entirely honest to diss ST like it's a competitor because, although there is some genre crossover, TUA and ST are two completely different pieces of entertainment that appeal to two completely different ranges of audience. It's all apples and oranges at this point.

That isn't to say that we're failing, though, or that TUA is being swept under the rug. Considering the size of the TUA fandom and the show's global popularity (or lack thereof, when comparing it to Netflix's bigger shows), I'd say we actually get a fair amount of extra content and merch. Cool promo photoshoots, figures, shirts, replica uniforms, a spin-off comic for Klaus, BTS stuff including a "making of" book, convention panels, interviews, soundtracks (including vinyl!), quite a lot of activity on Twitter and Instagram from the official accounts, and now a blooper reel... It always stuns me when I see people say we don't get anything when we've always been decently fed for a smaller community.

I'm not saying that it's not okay to be annoyed, emotions are emotions and I get the frustration, but I think we should also try to appreciate the stuff that we do get. It's easy to feel like our fandom is bigger than what it is if we always surround ourselves with other fans, but we really are quite small. I don't know anyone outside of online spaces that watches The Umbrella Academy, and the ones who tried, didn't like it and stopped before finishing S1. That's not any fault of Netflix "not caring" (TUA would be canceled by now if that were true), or that Netflix "cares more" about ST (there's really no "caring" about anything but sales in the big business side of entertainment), it's simply that one is more interesting to more people. For us TUA fans, it sucks, but that's just how it is in a slightly more niche fandom. And that's okay!

Most importantly I think we should remind ourselves that despite whether or not things could have been better with more funding or popularity, we are getting a proper ending for the series. Blackman has, to my knowledge, planned on ending the show at four seasons for a while now. This is a good thing! The show gets to end on its own terms and the writers have a chance to tie up its story rather than milking it for seasons only to be canceled without a proper conclusion or, worse, suffering season rot. Best of all, we also know that Blackman has always been intent on working closely with Gerard Way and is keen on ensuring that the show's end won't be a disservice to the source material. So whatever we get, we can rest assured that it will likely be the best translation of Way's vision for the TUA universe. Not many shows get this kind of luxury, and I feel pretty grateful for that.

I think we're alright, and we're gonna continue to be alright.