#and likely my love for those tropes originated from this OTP of all OTPs

[teafiend]

Am happily surprised to find that this latest drama adaptation has my favourite portrayal of Guo Jing (although the actor is not really my cup of tea visuals wise but am more concerned about portrayal and characterization than looks when it comes to my favourite male fictional characters. Aesthetics wise, though, I think Ci Sha is a perfect GJ as is described in the books. And the actor is very compelling and attractive in his own ways).

Ci Sha brought out the Guo Jing of my ideals and I am enamored with his portrayal, an especially steady and composed version of GJ, yet still wonderfully kind and gentle, earnest, chivalrous and generous. And he is so expressively devoted and loving *squee and swoon* towards HR 😍🤩✨🫡 Also a super-dogged bodyguard extraordinaire who can take instructions well ✨🫡☺️🥰 And his Wuxia moves are exceedingly magnificent and cool 👏🏽

This version is also particularly amazing at highlighting the relationship dynamics between my favourite OTP. So many little details in the pairing to make me squee in shipper-fangirl delight ✨🫡🥰☺️

(To be fair, I think all the versions of JingRong - and individual GJ and HR - did the pair justice, and simply a matter of preference which who one prefers. I love all the JingRong I have ever watched, and each brings a different flavour of fabulous to this evergreen pairing/and characters).

I just LOVE, LOVE them to bits ✨🤩🥰☺️🥹 They are literally the perfect canon OTP (JingRong forever✨)

[zetadraconis11]

Writer Interview Game

Thank you, @gingerlegacy07 for the tag! Y'all should check her out! She's amazing and a great writer :]

When did you start writing?

Hm, I think I started writing ever since I was 9. It was at first just a little children's book. I've always liked drawing and writing, and coming up with crazy things, lol.

I loved taking Creative Writing class when I was 17, and that's when I also started writing my own original novel.

Writing fanfiction, I started about a year ago, with Hogwarts Legacy. I just had a couple ideas and decided to just give it a shot and write them. Now, I'm still writing HL fanfics and enjoying it so much :]

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

Ummm, I'm not sure. Maybe enemies to lovers as I personally don't think I can write that wonderful trope well. But I love to see it, like Zutara, lol.

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

No, as I write with my own style. I might be inspired by works of others sometimes, but I intend to make stories with my own take and my own way.

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

Well, if I write at my home, I usually do it at my desk! Per my name, I have some dragon stuff on my desk, lol, as well as a ceramic cup of pens and pencils and a lamp.

If I feel bored at my desk, I would move to the kitchen table or the living room, just to have a change of scenery. I also sometimes go to a coffee shop and camp there for a few hours while drinking mochas and such.

What's your most effective way to muster up a muse?

I often listen to songs and think of which pairs or characters fit them. And even when I watch a show or movie, I find myself wondering what characters from HL would be like in it, hahaha.

So honestly...the most effective way is just me lost in thought XD. I have one interesting thought, then I keep following that thought, and it just builds up in there. And my creativity has me start to write it.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you?

Family is huge in my writing. Whether it's blood family or - more frequently - found family. Also friends that are like family. And just being supportive and having healthy relationships. Wonderful happy love and fluff everywhere!

It doesn't surprise me, lol. I don't like sad endings or anything too depressing. I can't handle it, and I always want happy endings after many rough trials or trauma.

With Sebastian, I always have him redeemed when he's in a relationship with my MC Estelle. And she needed healing of her own too. And they just make each other so happy and they love each other so much. All the fluff for them and my other otps :]

What is your reason for writing?

It's mainly because I wanted to a certain story and didn't see it out there, so I decided to write it myself. In doing so, I hope that others enjoy the stories too.

Anyone that's seen the majority of my incorrect quotes or read some of my stories know I'm a huge shipper of Garrelda. I love them to bits, I'll forever captain that ship if need be, lol. So, when HL fics were still coming out, I didn't any (if at all) or Poppinis. I decided to give it a shot and write for those pairings, more of Poppinis at first. I loved Poppinis as a ship first before I fleshed out my take on Garrelda more.

In the end, I write stories that I randomly get inspired to write, and I just send them out there, not knowing if others wanted to read such a thing, lol

Is their any specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating?

Any positive comment showing love for the story just makes me so happy. Seeing them appreciate it always makes me smile. Those comments help me remember people do like what I write, and it's a nice reminder :]

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

Eh, I don't know if there's anything I want to be thought about. But I guess a "provider" of Garrelda content, as I often write that pairing, especially with my recent on-going fic. Or just a "truly writing dragon", lol, as I keep sending out more stories for people to read in the HL fandom.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

I think writing emotions and characters. I try to make the characters feel real, and I do my best in describing them so they're relatable to readers.

How do you feel about your own writing?

I feel like it's improving, which is great to see. But that makes me grimace about my first fics I wrote, as I know they can be a bit rough. But that's how it goes, and I do feel pretty proud of how far I've come, and I do like my writing more from time to time. I admittedly am still my worst critic, though.

And those are my answers! Thank you for whomever came up with this! :]

Np tags: @polarisgreenley, @mspegasus17, @ravenwind-75

[smytherines]

001| Curtwen and 002|Owen Carvour for the ask game

Oooohhh thank you!

001- curtwen

When I started shipping it: I watched Spies for the first time in late October or early November 2023, and I liked it but I didn't think about it again until January 2024 when I decided to rewatch it. The second time I watched Spies they broke my brain, and I've been here ever since

My thoughts: *45 continuous minutes of stressed out laughter* oh boy. Um. So many thoughts really, but most of them center around curtwen making me incredibly sad

What makes me happy about them: I genuinely believe they loved each other. That they bantered and bickered like an old married couple, but that they really tried the best they could to be together, even if most of the time they had to be apart. I believe Curt when he talks about how Owen was his best friend, and I think Owen felt the same way right up until the fall

What makes me sad about them: everything else

Things done in fanfic that annoy me: making pre-fall Owen into a heartless monster who is borderline (or just outright) abusive to a helpless, dopey babygirlified version of Curt. Those versions of the characters are unrecognizable to me

Things I look for in fanfic: for their relationship, whether working or romantic, to feel like an actual partnership with two people who genuinely care about each other. I'm also just a sucker for great banter

Who I'd be comfortable with them ending up with, if not each other: nobody, it's very much a "they were made for each other, do not subject anyone else to these men" situation for me

My happily ever after for them: actually I wrote a whole fic about this! But it would just be them getting out of the spy game and running off somewhere, just having a little house together and finally getting to have a real relationship

Who is the big spoon/little spoon: I think they switch it up. Maybe with Owen being the big spoon a little more often? I do think the fandom overlooks Curt's big spoon potential though

What is their favorite non-sexual activity: is it cheating to say spying? I think Curt would despise stakeouts at first because he can't keep still, but the more they work together (and especially once they get together) I think they would both start to kind of enjoy stakeouts because they get to talk and spend time together and not necessarily have all the pressure and stress of the other parts of their job

002- Owen Carvour

How I feel about this character: oh boy there aren't enough words. I could focus on so many things here, but they all come back to disability eventually. While Owen Carvour isn't established in canon to be disabled after the fall, in the real world you do not get up and walk away after a fall like that, especially not after a building explodes on you. In the real world, the most likely result would be broken bones, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, burns from the explosion, etc. There aren't a ton of canonically disabled characters out there, so disability tends to be something that has to be read subtextually like this, often in the origin stories of antagonists or villains. The whole become disabled become evil trope.

I find myself with a lot of empathy for characters who go through something horrifying, something that would be disabling in the real world, and their grief and trauma manifest in horrifying ways. People who are not perfect victims, who spiral and lash out and lose themselves and ruminate, who turn their pain into ammunition. Grief that manifests as sadness and crying and self-hatred tends to be a lot more accessible and relatable than grief that manifests as boiling white hot rage. But as a disabled person who thinks of Owen as a disabled character, I have a lot of empathy for the rage. Maybe I shouldn't, but I do.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: just Agent Curt Mega

Non-romantic OTP: I love the idea of Barb and Owen being friends. I think they definitely had some interests in common and would've been such an interesting dynamic

Unpopular opinion of this character: I guess one of my most unpopular opinions is that I think it does a big disservice to the character and the story to reduce Owen down to a petty ex who was always sort of like that, who wants nothing else beyond petty personal revenge on the man who wronged him. To paint it as a toxic reaction to a bad breakup instead of a massive trauma that left him seriously injured and isolated and heartbroken, that stole his entire life from him.

I absolutely believe getting revenge on Curt was a primary motivation for Owen, but I don't think he planned to torture or kill Curt until Curt interrupted his arms deal. I think Owen lost his identity, his life, his job, his relationship, everything that mattered to him in the fall, and if Curt hadn't come back and chased him down, Owen would've been satisfied operating from the shadows and taking (from his perspective, at least) the only thing Curt actually loves- spying. But I don't think that's his only motivation. By the time we meet DMA, Owen has already been working with the Baron for some time, he definitely would've started this project before Curt ever came back, so I don't buy the idea that he started all this to lure Curt in. I think its giving Owen a bit too much credit to suggest he rigged the entire scenario. I don't think Curt personally being there was part of the plan, I think it derailed the plan.

A spy destroyed his life, him being a spy destroyed his life, his agency and his partner abandoned him to die, having a secret with another man ruined him. I get why he wants a world without agencies, without spies, without secrets. He is going to single handedly dismantle everything Curt ever believed in because those are the things Owen once believed in, the things that put him in that facility and led to him losing everything

It is about Curt, but its about a lot more than Curt too. I think Owen would be very aware of what the British government would do to him if they knew he was gay, I think he would be very aware that global superpowers like the US, UK, & USSR are working on surveillance technology, that someday soon somebody will hold all the world's secrets. I think he feels like he stands a better chance with Chimera than he does with the government that would imprison him or force him into "chemical castration" if they knew what he was. A government that left him for dead. His ideological reasons for joining Chimera as just as interesting to me as his personal reasons

One thing I wish had happened in canon: the villain monologue and the staircase scene have Owen laying out all his ideological reasons for doing what he's doing, beyond insulting Curt he doesn't get personal about anything, even when Curt tries to bring up personal things between them. I get why there wasn't, but I do sort of wish there had been a line or two that really expanded on what "the horror of staying alive" meant to Owen, some tiny glance at what his post-fall world was really like. Something that slips out and Curt tries to pull at that thread and Owen just shuts it down, or the thought of it makes him even angrier. Things end the same way, and I do think Joey Richter does an incredible, incredible job of making you feel something for Owen in the staircase scene, but I do wish we had a little bit more of a mask-dropping moment

My OTP: curtwen

My crossover ship: I would not inflict these men on anyone else

A headcanon fact: uhm. Shit. I've already typed so much so let's keep this simple- I headcanon him as autistic

[lia404]

For the Yu-Gi-Oh challenge, I'll, of course, ask you the diva that is Seito Kaiba.

Noooooo I almost put in the tag #please any character but Kaiba svp but I thought... naaah, there are so many characters, people will not ask for Kaiba, right?

RIGHT?

Okay, here we go, time to answer questions about this glorious asshole.

Why I like them/why I don’t

The trope of the stupid chaotic genius with no agenda except his own is a trope that works wonders on me, and Seto Kaiba fits the bill so perfectly. I like him for that. I like his ego and his chaos and his genius, his crazy technology and the way he is here exactly at the right time to trigger stupid events.

But it also annoys me so much. SO MUCH. Listen, I used to be a Kaiba-girl (although my fave has always been, and still is, Mokuba), but I'm back from it. Dude's everywhere. I'm tired of him. I'm tired of reading about him. I'm tired of him being an asshole to everyone, tsundere sometimes but most often not. He is an edgy teenager with a LOT of money and a LOT of intellect to twist the world the way he wants it to look. I can respect that. I am just tired of him.

I think what I like most of him remains his relationship with his brother. OK, and his extraness. I admit it amuses me.

What I like about their appearance

Physical appearance? THE COAT. That stupid, over the top white coat. The fact that a 16 year-old kid thought "I need to find a way to make myself bigger" and came up with THIS. Overall, his character design is awesome too. Those blue eyes and those muscles and those neverending legs, man. I may not be fond of him, but I have eyes.

Not sure if it counts as "appearance", but he is the only character whose US voice I LOVE. Like, really. I don't care about the US dub, but Kaiba's voice in it? It's one of the cornerstones of my childhood. And it wasn't even the version we had on TV in France. I just watched a painfully downloaded very pixelated version of Pyramid of Light in English, because that was all I could find, and suddenly... that was him. That was Seto Kaiba in my ears, better than the French version. I've never come back from it. I love his VA.

Do I prefer their dub names or original names?

Does not apply! But as I said above, it's the only character whose characterisation I love almost more in English than in Japanese. Maybe it counts as "I prefer dub".

OTP

This one's hard. I used to be a HUGE Silentshipper when I was a teen (that's Seto/Serenity) and then evolved to the obvious Puppyshipping (honestly, I think I leaned towards it even when I was silentshipping.) It's only "recently" (understand: around 2019) that I discovered that Prideshipping had a huge appeal. Some people have also brought Rivalshipping to my attention and I see the merit of it. I like Trustshipping too (that's Isis Ishtar/Seto Kaiba), they would kill each other. A real OTP for Kaiba though? None exactly. Seto Kaiba/his ego is well enough. (I do enjoy Priest Seth/Kisara a lot because of course I do, and if we REALLY want to enter funky territory, Priest Seth/Seto is always fun.)

But if I really really have to choose something, well. Let's go with Prideshipping; it's the safest bet IMO.

NOTP

Eeeeeehhh most of them? Seriously it's hard to say, on the one hand I'm a huge multishipper and you can sell me any ship if you explain it well. On the other hand, I don't want to subject anyone to a romance with Seto Kaiba. That said, I've discovered that Adoptshipping is a thing, Gozaburo/Seto: let's go with this, that's one hell of a NOTP.

OT3

Priest Seth / Seto Kaiba / Mahad. Think of it. You're welcome.

Seriously, I don't even think this ship has a name. It's a mix of Stoicshipping and Headdresshipping. My proposal is Denileshipping because it's by the Nile and they're all in denial, Mahad and Seth about the fact that they actually enjoy each other's company, and Seto about the fact that they are real people who are closer to Atem than he is, and not weird hocus-pocus pretend memories. And they do real magic. Kaiba, please. Can't say there's a lot of content about it but seriously: THINK OF IT. And I think if you add Atem in the equation you get a nice OT4—and a nice amount of chaos.

Favourite card they use

Okay so bear with me because I actually can't remember which decks are canon in the anime/in the manga, mostly because I have his Duel Links deck in mind. I really love Maiden with Eyes of Blue because not only it's an incredibly pretty card made to bring Kisara to mind, but it's also quite useful imo since it's a nice shortcut to bringing a BEWD on the field during the first or second turn. Pair it with White Stone of the Ancient and a good skill, and turn 3 or 4 you get your Twin-burst BEWD. And seriously, these cards are so pretty, and prove that sometimes, even Kaiba can have good taste.

(Is there really no way to resize images in a post or am I just really bad at Tumblr?)

Favourite moment they were in

Oh god the moment when Mokuba jumps in his arms at the end of Duelist Kingdom.

It's tied with the moment when he pairs up in a nice tsundere way with Yami during Battle City, and a very special mention to DSOD and THE SPACE ELEVATOR that had me in tears the first time I watched it. Physics whomst.

Least favourite moment

See, for all I dislike this idiot, I have a hard time pinpointing a specific moment when I actually wanted to tear his hair off and nail it back on his head with rusty nails and lemon juice. He is annoying and odious, but I tend to like the dynamic he brings with him. Even when he threatens to kill himself so as not to lose a duel, or when he belittles everyone in the team, or when he is so focused on Atem that he forgets EVERYONE ELSE IS LITERALLY HERE? He's annoying, but I like these moments.

Would I fuck, marry or kill them

Kill. Killkillkillkillkill. Sorry but if the alternatives are fuck and marry, I don't hesitate for a second. But also, not too sorry: I mean, it's not like he needs my help for it anyway. He apparently does it very well by himself if the general reading of the end of DSOD is accurate.

Bottom line:

It's not really obvious, but for all the annoyance Seto Kaiba awakens in me, I actually like his character. To me, he is clearly one of those who have the MOST OBVIOUS development, if not THE one. His goals are clear, he asserts his selfishness and he learns to be evil for his own profit, but not to make people suffer. Also, Kaibaland for young kids? Okay, maybe I love him a little for that. And the whole technological miracles to enhance a card game are very very refreshing in a world when technological miracles usually come from the army. Thank you, Kaiba, for destroying the laws of physics and going all quantic with your virtual stuff just for the sake of a card game you're not even really good at. Kudos. The next generations will be grateful well most of them, who didn't have said card game ruin their existence and the balance of their entire society.

Seto Kaiba is an insufferable, proud asshole, but he has every reason to be. I can forgive him. Still not enough to fuck or marry, though.

[shukakumoodboard]

anon i hope you are able to find this because you asked my original blog and i’m trying to stealthily migrate so my irls can't find me dkgjhfkjl

answers below the cut <3

would you like some fandomy thoughts?

1. list 3 positive things about your current fandom(s) [which ofc im answering for gaalee]

the discord i'm in for it is the highlight of my day and forms approximately 65% of my social life! who knew you could hyperfixate on some gay ninjas and as a result, end up visiting people irl and getting christmas cards and making incredible friends all over the world? pretty sure i have standing invites to homes in at least 3 different countries rn. incredible

fic quality is fuckin'. superior. and i'm not saying that because i write, i'm saying that as a reader. it's a smallish fandom and yet there's folks who can write full-length novels like @sagemoderocklee and @the-moss-project, people who can write every possible trope and au greyson's georg @ghoste-catte and @urieskooki and so many others i couldn't list them all. it's beyond obvious that the authors who write the gaalees are SO passionate about them. writers i lov you evryday

seguing from that into art!?!? pleas i have a dragon hoard of fanart only for my fics and there's over 100 pieces. A HUNDRED ARE TIOYU GIKISDINDIGME. giving u all a kissy rn. also the way i can get on discord and get immediately smacked in the face with bespoke paneenis liike every day help. gheelpp don't look at me. i will save my money and commission every one of u if its the last htign i do

2. a headcanon you weren’t sure about at first but have come to like!

oho! ready for this one? i was initially not super on board with hairy!lee. what was i on actually. me, a Wrong, and now i will purposefully include it in every fic as a sign of penance for my sins

3. answered!

4. say something nice about a ship you don’t ship (it can be another ship in your fandom, a mutual’s OTP, etc)

those who know me know that i strictly see leesaku as a brOTP, like those dudes are buddies to me. but that being said, i think leesaku as a romantic pairing is far healthier for sakura than her canon partner. lee is capable of so much love and forgiveness and they do parallel each other so much as the like... "underdog"/non-gifted member of their respective teams. she deserves love and support and understanding and lee would be genuinely ideal for it.

5. something you see in fics a lot and love

sunans (and team gai) being multilingual. oml one of my fave headcanons. you cannot tell me these different countries with different isolated villages are all casually speaking the same language when in big chunks of nart they didn't even like. get along properly. i loooove the concept of a shinobi common tongue and regional languages. further on that same thing, given team gai is pretty chinese-coded, i think it makes sense that they'd also be speaking another langauge, whether taught by gai or just because of their own independent histories or whatever. @sagemoderocklee has some truly stunning worldbuilding and it where i got my love for this hc from <3

6. something you see in art a lot and love

h-h-h-hHEIGHT DIFFERENCEEEEEEE

ok joking aside i refuse to believe gaara made it past like 5'3" that man did not sleep for his whole adolescence. conversely lee was probably on the Optimum Macros and that healthy eating would 100% contribute to maximum height gains etc. that man deserves to be 6 feet tall, that's my opinion and im right

thank you so much for the opportunity to gush about my blorbos <3

[sing-in-me-oh-muse]

Writer Highlight from Writers Sanctuary

Each month on Writers Sanctuary, a Discord server that nurtures writers of all kinds, highlights a writer and asks them questions about their writing process. This month's writer is Chai_ki!

@Chai_ki

Ao3 Profile: Chai_ki

Works:

Fervor Lullaby was fun to write and it honestly just flowed. I think that’s why I like it so much.

Can I Take Your Last Name was my first attempt at humor and I had a ton of fun writing it.

The Cadence of Leaves was my first multi-chapter fic and even though I haven’t posted in a while, I’m on track to finish it!

What is your writing process? How do you approach a fic or original work? (e.g. Are you a Pantser? Plotter? Do you focus on dialogue before description? etc.)

Pantser, now there's a great term! I would have to say that I am definitely more of a pantser but occasionally will try to plot. Most of the time I just write as things come and hope it all flows well. 😅A lot of my ideas come from music. I usually can imagine a scene in my head during a song and then that scene grows (if I'm lucky). Original works have been hard as I have a tendency to want to over-explain things and feel like I can't get the characters back stories across well enough. That's one of the reasons I love fan fiction, those reading already know the characters so I can just dive right into the story.

What was your first story and why did you finally decide to write?

Ooo this is hard. My first ever story was one about cats I think. It was in 1st or 2nd grade. I've had random other stories since then. My first Miraculous fic was titled "Affinity" and I first posted it on Amino. It's one I would like to rewrite (and finish) at some point, but I have a few other projects to finish first. I have always loved to write and as stated in answer 1, I struggle with over-explaining my characters. I fell in love with Miraculous and then found out there was this entire community of writers and realized I had found my version of heaven. That was in 2018 and since then writing for the fandom has been one of my most relaxing hobbies.

Where is your favorite place/time/conditions to write?

This one is easy, mostly. I can honestly write just about anywhere - so long as I don't have other responsibilities to attend to in the moment. I prefer to have music playing, usually it's songs that have inspired my current work, but I can write without it as well. So long as the ideas are flowing, I'm able to write!

What is your favorite pairing, platonic or romantic, and why?

Fandom specific would be the love square. I honestly can't really say why, I just know I adore them. I think a part of it is because I see bits of myself in each character, both in cannon and fanon. I also love the dynamic between Alya and Marinette. Alya reminds me of my best friend of 25 years in so many ways and I find I end up writing from personal experience with them. In terms of anything other than my own writing, I enjoy a variety of parings and ships and enjoy seeing how other creators bring them to life. (Not fandom specific I have a few parings that I'd consider an OTP, but that would make this answer way too long. 🤣)

Do you have any thematic elements you’re interested in or that consistently show up in your writing?

To be honest, I haven't thought much about themes in my writing. I suppose my main theme is cutesy love stories, friends being there for each other. Stuff like that. I'd love to get good at writing adventure or humor, but I'm not sure I'm there yet. I do have a WIP that is an adventure story. The prompt is a Goonies/National Treasure AU I was given in the MWG for December's event. I'm struggling with it, but I also enjoy the challenge. One of my favorite tropes is friends to lovers and I feel like I use that in every story I've posted so far.

How do you deal with writer's block?

Music. Just about everything comes back to music for me. Sometimes I get disheartened if I'm stuck but I've found that listening to music, be it a new song, band or old favorite always sparks something creative.

What do you do if you have too many ideas?

I feel as though that's a normal state of living for me. 😅At any given moment some idea for something is floating around in my mind. (Along with a constant radio of song.) If one idea really sparks an interest I will hyper fixate on it, otherwise they live in my head, rent free. Truthfully, I should be noting them down somewhere...

You said that Fervor Lullaby (which is adorable) was fun and easy to write because it "just flowed." How long did writing the one shot take in that flow tate, and have you ever been able to get back into it for any other pieces?

Thank you! 🥺 Fervor Lullaby took about 3 hours in total to write. I saw the prompt and the ideas just kept coming. Ironically this story didn't have a song to spark it though I found a very fitting one to go with it once it was done. Sadly, I haven't been able to get back that fast of a flow since then and IRL stuff has limited my writing time significantly over the last 6-ish months. I hope to get back into writing more now that things have slowed down a bit. Seeing other creators is always inspiring and I am grateful for the Miraculous community!

---

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[pinkbowsandprettyprose]

Can you please share your story of how you became a Kisshu x Ichigo shipper and Tokyo Mew Mew fan in the first place? It would be really interesting to discover the original of it all!

Sure! :) putting this under a readmore because it’s going to be long.

I discovered TMM as an anime first, via the ominous depths of 2006 YouTube, split into 3 parts and uploaded in 360p. I’d already watched a bit of anime — mostly whatever was popular — I think I’d finished all of Inuyasha, seen most of classic Sailor Moon, and I was halfway through Cardcaptor Sakura when I picked up TMM. I fell in love with it pretty much from episode 1, and immediately dove into fan forums, wikis, etc. I finished my first watch of it on YouTube and immediately wanted more, so little 5th grader me scraped together some cash and bought the first two volumes of the manga. When I finished those over the span of literally one evening, I read the last five while sitting on the floor of a Barnes & Noble (as one does when you’re young and broke and really wanna read a new manga).

Not to get too deep, but I had a pretty bizarre and lonely childhood, so I basically took whatever anime or manga I could find and inhaled it as a form of escapism. I was at the library almost every weekend camped out in a corner reading manga. I went on to watch basically any anime that was appealing to my demographic as a middle schooler — Shugo Chara, FMA, Soul Eater, Full Moon, Ouran — you name the anime that a middle school girl would be into, and I’d seen it. But literally nothing could scratch the itch for a unique story and creativity in its characters like TMM did. I wrote a ton of (terrible) fanfiction for it back in the day, watched every single AMV on the internet, and argued with people in TMM forums about whether ZakuMint is canon or not (as one does when you’re queer and in middle school and full of emotions).

Speaking more specifically to why Quiche & Ichigo is still my OTP as an adult — I think it was the first time I’d really experienced a pairing that was a more complex (and dark) take on a villain/hero relationship. Those kinds of pairings in movies and TV shows had always fascinated me as a kid, but Mia Ikumi’s vision for kishigo in TMM’s manga had me totally captivated. Coupled with the fact that Quiche as a character was fascinating to me (more on that in my other ask I’ve already answered here), I think it’s hard to match that same childhood excitement and wonder while consuming new media as an adult. Once you have a childhood OTP, it’s hard to let go of it completely. You can find other ships you’re excited about, but if you’re really, truly in love with one pairing, and you’re getting treated to new media for it like Ikumi’s Re-Turn… it’s hard to replicate. :)

I’m still a big fan of the enemies-to-lovers and villain/hero tropes today, and TMM will always be a special fandom for me that I return to time and time again. 💖

[dangermousie]

An older sageuk rec post!

The Princess’ Man (2011) is in the running for my favorite sageuk ever, and is definitely in my Top 10 period shows from anywhere. It also hits every single trope I love harder than any period show ever does. I remember watching it as it aired, freaking out and crying and hoping against hope for a happy ending for our tormented OTP (which they got! Though the secondary OTP broke me so much.)

The plot summed up alone should make you giddy. Our heroine, Se Ryung (played amazingly by Moon Chae Won) is a princess - favorite daughter of the King’s powerful brother. She meets and falls in love with the sunny, gentle scholar Seung Yoo (Park Shi Hoo giving his best performance. The man is no-go in real life but as an actor he used to be freaking amazing.)

He doesn’t know her real identity but everything is lovely for them anyway. Until Se Ryung’s father initiates a bloody coup, taking down not only the rivals in the royal family but the entirety of Seung Yoo’s family who die horrifically in front of him (except for a few who get enslaved.) Seung Yoo himself only gets saved because Se Ryung threatens to kill herself if he’s not kept alive. (The scene of feral, borderline delirious SY surrounded and looking at SR as he finds out who she is - amazing!) Daddy agrees and sentences SY to slavery and exile but the secret orders are to scuttle the ship on the way.

Anyway, SY survives all the hell that is thrown at him and comes back all in black with sexy hair, tormented and barely sane, looking for revenge. This utter wreck then meets our SR who has never stopped loving him.

Anyway this is so intense and so good and so fucked up. Both leads give great performances - MCW is a total lady and “proper” but so unbendably steely. And PSH, whatever one thinks of him in RL, was always an excellent actor and his transformation from a well adjusted scholar to a wounded almost-monster and then climbing back to hard won sanity is so well done.

All the supporting characters are likewise amazing - the brittle original royal princess who finds love with the gentle scholar husband (they broke me, they really broke me), SR’s monster father who you believe fiercely loves his daughter just not as much as he loves power - he is also a much more competent ruler than those he overthrew but is a monster as well. And the screenplay is perfect. It’s 24 eps and it never either drags nor takes shortcuts. You know what? I am gonna rewatch thanks…

Oh and another MV which I like because the song (from the Scarlet Pimpernel musical) is vvv appropriate:

Oh and my favorite scene? Either the one where he kisses the scar on her back or the one where she puts his head on her shoulder and he’s able to sleep properly for the first time in years.

[wallflower-koharu]

My ship tier list.

I have to write some explanations on why I like my ships. Some of them are not in the original tier list, so I'll write everything here.

OTPs:

Jellowshipping: obviously the ship that I adore the most. I love how they support one another, how they spend time together on everyday things.

How Mallow makes sure Lillie is safe. How Lillie looks at her with heart eyes and- (I would write a papyrus about it) the last hug in JN. Also they referenced Utena, a yuri anime.

Eternalhoneymoonshipping: The best adult couple in Pokeani. They are so natural with each other, and I found Burnet's crush on Royal Mask funny. They became Ash's second family and gave him a little sibling too!

Contestshipping: rival to lovers trope. I like it. And the waterfall scene was memorable. I still wonder how May didn't realize that the roses were actually for her. And I still wonder why it isn't canon.

Journeyshipping: People know how much I like this. How Goh struggled to make friends and found Ash in a fateful encounter with Luigia. How both of them are complementary but similar in their dedication to their dreams (and both crazy enough to jump on Luigia). How Goh fell for him after Ash protected those Bulbasaur and then when it was confirmed in the Gengar episode.

"The future is in my hands" "Our hands, right?"

Also that spin hug. The biggest regret of mine is the Journeys anime being a mess in its writing. And sadly, how much this is treated like a joke or a disgusting thing from the most popular poketubers and pokemon fans in general.

Appealshipping: Everytime Zoey walks in, the music became softer and Dawn became a blushing mess. Also Zoey helped her a lot in the DP anime, like a prince charming.

This is so underrated. Also it has the trope of butch/femme like HaruMichi (Sailor Moon) and Yukira (Kirakira precure à la mode). Yes, they remind me of them.

Waterwarriorshipping: "the most beautiful woman in the world?" Those are canon Lana lines, not even a fanfic! They are both tomboys, water lovers, and have a really good chemistry! I wish I could have seen them together more.

Moonlightblossomshipping: I don't get why this ship gets so much hate. They complement each other well, both in character design and personality, and they had really nice moments together. I loved all of the scenes in Dawn's return in the first two episodes, and I was annoyed that the writers "forgot" to make them interact in the second special.

I like how in other anime the pink girl is a cheerful, energetic girl and the blue one is more calm and reserved, and for Kohahika it's switched.

Botiqueshipping: This was my first Serena ship, and I cherish it dearly. They are so sweet together!

Rocketshipping: When I was little I thought they were married. This is my first OTP of my childhood, and I didn't know what ships are. They are so funny together and I was happy to know they were really married in a manga (electric tale of pikachu, but honestly I'm not a fan of it.)

You can see them as t4t, bi4bi or genderfluid and it still fits.

Pokshipping: I think people will hate me for this. I respect people who don't like this or see them more as a brother and sister, because I can see them as both romantic and platonic.

I think Misty's personality did fit well with OS Ash's one. Their relationship trope was one of the most used in the 90s anime, as well as the slapstick comedy. People often belittle Misty saying she was just rude to Ash, but, like I said, it was 90s comedy style and Misty saved Ash's life multiple times.

[scover-va]

could you perhaps do the ask thing for Lazarus? I love him so much and I NEED more opinions on thay man, love your content <3 -💫

This ask may be from January but we're answering it now! Becaaauuuuse fuck it!

favorite thing about them It might just be because i enjoy the trope in general but i really enjoy the codependent slash doomed by the narrative dynamic he has with Chandrelle. Not even from a romantic standpoint I just really enjoy what they got goin on

least favorite thing about them Drawing his armour next question

favorite line It's been so long since ive played the game so i cant remember specifics but either the convo w/ Chandrelle right before the Irving confrontation, or his snarky remark (smth along the lines of preferring he just stayed under the rock) if you go the long way to the dragon in SoL

brOTP Him, Jay, and Junior :-) I never really went into the group dynamic but i like to imagine they were kinda like a pseudo family for one another. Lazarus misses them a lot

OTP I dont have a singular Lazarus ship that i put above all else but i do ship him with Chandrelle, Bryce, and Rust

nOTP Irving for. Obvious reasons. Im saying him specifically just because i put those two in that 'i dont see the difference love is love' meme when im known for shipping Ducks & Lions (carla and lionel) and chansado so i figured I should clarify. My original idea for that square of the meme btw was Irving/Bryce since i do half ship them (shouldnt happen in canon but could work in aus type deal) but i thought drawing Irving's literal death was funnier

random headcanon Hes a french depressed bisexual like damn bitch pick a struggle!! Also in SoL he has a longass ponytail, in VG2 he gets a buzzcut, and then by the time the inn stuff happens he has this awkward lil mullet thing goin on

unpopular opinion Lazarus and Chandrelle wouldnt be able to healthily date by the time The Hex ends im sorry. Not even shortly after. Maybe in the future after working out their issues but if they started dating before working through all That i dont see it ending well given the codependency and the guilt and the sacrifice and the trauma and just. Yeah. Like i think eventually it could work out, they clearly both want to at least try and fix things to some degree (Chandrelle tries to apologize, Lazarus later tells her that being her swordsman wasnt all that bad when the last thing he said to her before being separated for however long was "Chandrelle, I regret this" or smth like that. Like theres potential but its gotta have effort put in first)

song i associate with them The Moon Will Sing (The Crane Wives) obviously but also Blood On My Name (The Brothers Bright) but like. From Chandrelle's pov about him. Because one it literally has his name in it and two it also really fits. I think Battlefield (SVRCINA) also works p well

favorite picture of them I dont have a favourite picture of him (mainly because the hex is a lil limited with photo content) but the way hes passed out after the Gameworks fuckin blows up is hilarious. Mainly bc of that one meme im way too lazy to go find

[catelyngrant]

Laura and Bill 💜 for the shippy ask.

Ship It

What made you ship it? You know, that's actually a really good question. It's been so long, and all I really remember going into the show (which took a lot of convincing bc I'd never watched sci-fi before) was that I knew my friends loved Laura and that I would love Laura, but I can't remember what, if anything, I knew about the ship going into it. I'm sure I was at least aware that it existed as a ship and that the friends who got me into BSG liked it, but it all happened quickly—my friends got me to cave and watch it, I binged it all SO quickly, and then within like a month I was up to my eyes in the fandom—that I have a really hard time remembering my initial reactions to a lot of that first viewing. I'm guessing that it was as simple as I loved Laura so much, and, while I was very young and pretty limited in my previous fandoms so didn't know it at the time, I now know how many of my personal boxes this ship checks: the Parents™, enemies-to-friends-to-lovers, slow-burn couple that can't be together because duty and responsibilities, the stern and dignified characters that can only really let their guard down around each other...Of course, that begs the question: do I love these tropes because my most formative OTP fulfilled them, or are they my most formative OTP because they're how I discovered/solidified how much I love those tropes?

What are your favorite things about the ship? I loved how they built their relationship from ashes because the duties and responsibilities that they both prioritized so highly demanded it of them. They worked for this relationship because they needed it to work, and out of that came something so unexpected and lovely and tragic that neither of them meant to happen or even wanted to happen, but that was out of their hands by the time they realized. Laura agreed to share power with the military because it was the only way to maintain her own power at the time; Bill went down to Kobol because he realized that reconciling with her was the only way forward for the fleet; Laura began taking more and more drastic steps to secure Bill's safety and authority as she approached her own death (i.e. ordering Cain's assassination), while Bill began taking more and more care to protect Laura's heart and soul (i.e. stopping the election fraud). This is a relationship that they both decided had to work for the survival and wellbeing of humanity, and through it, they found their own humanity and reasons to live beyond the responsibilities placed upon them. It's heartbreaking, it's beautiful, it's deeply, deeply tragic, but above all, it was earned.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? I'm not sure what counts as a popular or unpopular opinion these days, but it was certainly unpopular at the time to not like what happened to these characters, both separately and as a pair, in 4.5. There was so much great stuff that we'd been waiting for for so long, but in the context that we got it, it fell flat and/or felt really uncomfortable in a lot of ways. It was really sad for me that, after they finally reached a place of being ready to be together, they both broke down so completely and spiraled into characters whose motivations and priorities often felt very much at odds with the characters I originally loved. Part of this was absolutely shitty storytelling overall in 4.5, but it certainly felt most acute in the context of the characters and relationship I was most invested in.

[generalwildcat]

Ok I'm having some thoughts on the first episode of season 4....

•I will never get over that brief moment of Official Gay Ryan. It was absolutely beautiful.

•Also I Love Ryan's sparkling tux where can I get one of those??

•Kourtney is channeling Sharpay vibes and I am HERE for it!

•Big Red is abroad HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME, HSMTMTS?? I mean, I know it was probably scheduling conflict or something totally logical but we had so little of Big Red in season 3 and we deserve more of him.

•Ok ummmm is Ashlyn having some kind of thing with...or maybe for Maddox now? How did we get to this point I WANT DETAILS.

•WHERE THE HELL IS SEB??? Again, I know, logistics and scheduling conflicts BUT HOW DARE YOU DEPRIVE US OF THE GAY OTP THAT IS SEBLOS. And also HOW DARE YOU DEPRIVE US OF SEB. HE IS A FRICKING GIFT TO OUR SCREENS!

•OG Wildcats are back TELL US WHAT'S HAPPENING IN HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 4!

•If you say you wouldn't either scream or faint into a puddle if ANY of the OG Wildcats walked into the room you're a dirty liar.

•BOO-YEAH CHAYLOR STAYS TOGETHER FOR THE WIN MY ORIGINAL OTP!!!!

•What are Troy and Gabriella in couple's therapy for? Does it have anything to do with that dream I had that one time of Gabriella and Sharpay ending up together?

•We get Official Gay Ryan AND Baby Ryan Twins? GIVE ME DETAILS ON THIS FAMILY I WANT TO KNOW EVERYTHING PLEASE LET THIS BE A SPINOFF.

•Gina and Mack getting off on the wrong foot is DEFINITELY gonna result in some kinda feelings happening there. Classic enemies to lovers trope except that's never gonna fully happen cause they're not gonna break up Ricky and Gina after all this time.

•Everyone's gonna come and say Rina is nauseatingly adorable and the internet's already said they're the new Troy and Gabriella. I'm gonna say, they took Troy and Gabriella to a whole other level.

•Kourtney why the hell would you NOT do the musical? Have you HEARD yourself sing? We already lost Big Red and Seb, we can't lose you, too!

•Ok fine the flashbacks of Ricky and Gina while singing their song is kinda cute. And it's nice to see how far they've come from season one.

•Ashlyn leaving Maddox on read.... Why does that sound like something she told Maddox to do at the beginning of the episode...? I'm conflicted.

•It's the end of the episode and I'm still squealing over Ryan and Chaylor. I'm gonna be squealing about this for at least a month.

[absolutebl]

Hello, how are you? First of all, I want to say, thank you so much for this blog of yours, AbsoluteBL....Because of you I know more about BL in general and the history behind it.....Your analysis are amazing and easy to read and to be understood (sorry English is not my native language)....I also love reading your recommendations and discussion.....Before I found this blog, I never watched any Thai drama, but you changed me.... Thanks...

Do you mind if I ask your opinion on something? I noticed that you are a book lover and a fast reader, so what do you think, about western MLM stories? What makes Asian BL better than western MLM stories? I don't mean to talk negatively but i want to read your opinion about it (because I love reading your writings)....

Before I watched Asian BL, I already read books and watch movies or series that contains MLM, but it just hit differently somehow (I don't know how to express what I mean).....

Most of otps that I love from western series or movies are bromance or male best friends that I love the chemistry, and for series that have canon MLM couple, I don't really ship them, not like in Asian BL...(I dont know why, maybe you have an idea ir two, why is that)....

Oh, do you mind if I gave you books recommendations? They are not long at all and a quick reading (especially since you are a fast reader), have you read "All For The Game" trilogy by Nora Sakavic or "Captive Prince" by trilogy by C.S.Pacat (the author said herself, that she was inspired by BL manga when wrote this books, and I think you will love them) ? Those are my top favorite MLM books....

Sorry for this long ask, feel free if you want to ignore it....Thanks again for your hard works in this blog....Hope you have a wonderful day.....

Hi, OMG you are so nice and I am abotu to get so salty! I love you and, I’m sorry? 

MM BOOKS

I would say at a general guess (looking at my old Goodreads account) I've read about 1000 mm romances. (before you get mad I’d say about 300 ff, 400 alt queer of soem kind, and way way way more than that het). And that’s just romance. I used to average between 300-500 books a year. And yes, I’m a speed reader. And yes, I retain very very little of it. 

So yeah.

I don't read them much anymore. Most mm went into KU over the last 4 years and I don't play that game. Plus I'd rather watch and talk about BL these days than read anything I’m not obligated to for work.

Sorry but I loathed Pacat's Captive Prince. Just like Red, White & Royal Blue a few years later it was as if everyone suddenly felt compelled to read and "discover" mm with that series and I DO NOT GET THE APPEAL. I come originally out of SFF and the world building was so poor, the Ds dynamic was unresolved and lacklustre (possibly because it was seme/uke, which now knowing might make it more palatable to me but, shrug, too late), the writing quality was not great, and I disliked most of the characters. Honestly, it reminded me of 1980s Sharon Green or Joanna Lindsey, just profoundly dated in its sensibility and clumsy with its trope execution. Like it was written by someone who had read very little romance or fantasy, but maybe a few 1970s pirate rape books.

And you thought I could only get this mean about Mame!

Just look at me go when books are one the line.

I think Pacat is like KinnPorsche, the people who like it are obsessed and the rest of us are like... but there's so much better stuff out there, why don't you... no? Okay then. Just, please stop talking about it?

As for Sakavic I don't read mafia and I don't read sports so I'm afraid I probably won't bother. Honestly, though, with these two as your top picks have you heard of Jex Lane's Beautiful Monsters? Although I'm not sure they finished writing the series, I gave up waiting.

I suppose I have probably scared you off now?

Look, everyone likes what they like and my reading taste is about as quirky as my drama taste, if not more so.

What do you care what I think?

I'm a grape soda person.

I don't like sourdough bread.

ooo, ooo!

White chocolate is a perfectly serviceable version of chocolate.

We all have our quirks.

[justanisabelakinnie]

Beauty, Brains, and Brawn

Was just talking about this with a mutual and I think the Beauty, Brains, and Brawn dynamic could apply to the other sets of siblings as well. 

For PB&J I think that Julieta, Bruno, and Pepa would be the Beauty, Brains, and Brawn respectively. Julieta is the OG Senorita Perfecta, her gift involves the calming nurturing trait of healing, she plays a motherly role akin to a housewife, etc.. Bruno’s gift gives him immense knowledge of those who come to him for his prophecies, and his powers are sensory as well(not that I think he’s smarter than his sisters but still). Pepa is obviously the brawn. Please do not try arguing with me on this, she is obviously the brawn. She strikes me as the toughest of the triplets and is loud, assertive, and explosive with her emotions, and her gift itself reflects this by being arguably the most dangerous one. 

For the Afrolatine siblings and this one is probably gonna be an unpopular opinion, but I’d have to say that Camilo is the Beauty, Dolores is the Brains, and Antonio is the Brawn. I know, but here me out. Camilo’s gift is all about appearance, particularly when he shapeshifts into hot people like Mariano. He’s also shown to be kind and nurturing like Julieta and takes a maternal instinct towards children in the opening song of the movie...also just like Julieta. Plus with his identity crisis and theatre kid persona, he’s always projecting a version of himself that he thinks other people will find the most appealing instead of his real, ugly flaws(and Beauty is often seen as the most “shallow” or useless of the three...). I mean it was literally a concept of him originally that the cute-looking boy we see throughout the movie was just another disguise of his(I’m glad they scrapped this btw? It was far too damn depressing even if this movie was for adults, just...no. Worse than Bubo and Princesa istg.). He strikes me as the type to think he has to be happy all the time because no one wants to see a sad face, similar to how Pepa was raised, maybe he learned it from her(as in, seeing how she was treated by Pepa, no way am I blaming her for this!). But maybe that’s just me. 

As for Dolores, similar to Bruno(wow, like uncle, like niece!), she has a sensory gift and has knowledge on everybody in the village. It also makes the most sense for her to be the Brains of the three when you really think about it, after all, she’s the oldest and the wittiest and the gossip in New York City is insidious, she is forced to make a lot of difficult decisions due to her gift, such as deciding what is relevant to tell people and what is better off left under the wraps. She had to keep Bruno’s secret all these years because she knew the reaction would be terrible with the entire town hating him and even his own sister wanting to forget he exists. She had to tell everybody(well Camilo who then told Felix and then it became a game of telephone lol) that Mirabel found Bruno’s vision because that was a secret that NEEDED to be revealed to the rest of the family so as to warn them instantly! She’s also really skilled at having to censor and block out certain sounds, which must take a lot of hard work and mental fortitude to do, especially from the tender age of five. And let’s not forget that it’s her knowledge of Mariano that allowed her to win his love(and make my OTP happen). 

Antonio is self-explanatory. He might be physically much weaker than Dolores and even Camilo(I mean he’s five unless he had Luisa’s gift the alternative would be embarrassing for anybody more than two years older than him lmao.), but his gift more than makes up for that. He’d never actually do it of course, but he COULD send his jaguar after you and maul you to death...or you could ignore this and say that he doesn’t control his animals, he just talks to them, and this is just Aisha being crazy. 

Idk Isabela, Mirabel, and Luisa helped me to realize that I love the Beauty, Brains, and Brawn trope and trio/group tropes in general lol. But even if it’s not intended, I still think it could apply to those other than the three sisters. Such as the other sibling units. What do you think? 

[phoenixtakaramono]

So I'm here to say that I really love your Bingyuan fic! The research you do for it and share with us is just amazing! I also have a q regarding LBG. From SV we know that he felt admiration for his Shizun so do you think that if SJ wasn't cruel to him LBG's admiration would've grown into love and attraction like it did in LBH's case for SY? Which then also raises a question: would LBH/LBG fall in love with any Shizun who was kind to him? Or was he just drawn to SJ's type of personality. WDYT?

Hi there, Anon! I’m glad you’re liking the Untold Tale! Thanks for reading! I think it lowkey helps when the story I’m writing (in general) is from a culture I’m familiar with and that I know some of its language nuances (just general Mainland dialect; I’m unfamiliar with Shanghainese, the Beijing dialect, etc etc). So fortunately for me, as someone who is Chinese but was born in the Western side of the world speaking Mandarin to family and friends, emulating the Chinese aesthetic and atmosphere in TUT comes a little bit easier to me than someone who did not grow up with this culture. I bet if I had been raised in China, I would be able to write something even more multilayered and deep but, alas, the youthful rebellious me of the past hadn’t taken my pinyin and Chinese character writing lessons seriously so I can only communicate verbally and understand audibly 😫. It’s very special for us writers in fandoms to be able to write a story of a culture that we actually know and can identify with. But high key it’s been immensely fun injecting some references of things I’ve come to notice from watching period C-dramas and the C-novels I’ve read, and I’ve come to learn interesting things about Chinese history and mythology even I didn’t know! So the story really writes itself.

Shen Jiu (OG!Shen Qingqiu)

To answer your question 🤔, to be honest this is why the SVSSS fandom is great—because there’s so many interpretations of the original source material. That’s why we have our headcanons and fanfictions to explore these many different possibilities. So for me personally, I can see it happening both ways: *1) LBG does develop a crush/falls in love with SJ, or 2) no matter how SJ treats him LBG regards him respectfully or coldly. I think Possibility 1 is more likely, since SY transmigrated into SQQ and we saw what happened with “Bunhe.”

Now, mind, for Possibility 1 to be more likely to happen, the SJ in PIDW will have to undergo a massive personality change/ a change of heart/ develop a good conscience and will need to clean up his image aka clear up the massive misunderstandings from PIDW canon (like him being mistaken as a pervert for Ning Yingying, visiting whorehouses, killing LQG, etc). It’ll be difficult though considering who Airplane has changed SJ into for his stallion harem novel (reading through SVSSS, my impression of PIDW besides it being the harem stallion novel is that it sounds similar to a “dog blood plot,” where audiences tune in to see how the villains are brought to justice). I literally have a line from TUT in a future chapter where SY says this about SJ since I will resurrect SJ and bring him into the story for closure:

People like Shen Qingqiu naturally had a set of deeply-rooted values. If one wanted to change them, it’d be easier to just have them reincarnate. (—TUT, ch???)

At his core, he’s a flawed man (which makes sense with the underlying cycle of abuse theory, considering his upbringing and backstory). He’s jealous and petty and prickly. His image is that of a proud and cold immortal. In Chinese terms, he’s the type of character archtype who I can see being àojiāo (definitely not canon characterization; this is just a stray thought that amuses me) in a romantic relationship.

LBH will have to recognize that^, or be in a position where he finds SJ’s caustic side endearing instead. He will also have to be extremely patient with him (although, since the joke in SVSSS is that LBH is an incurable M, it shouldn’t be that hard).

A fun thing about OG!SQQ is that he’s the cannon fodder scumbag villain of PIDW. He’s the reason LBG blackened from a white lotus. And, as you know, villains aka antagonists aka bad boys resonate strongly with people for a reason. That’s why we see a lot of Enemies to Lovers tropes, etc. It squicks me to use this phrase but “the allure of dating a ‘bad boy’ is strong.” SJ is that type of bad boy we could identify as a “fixer-upper project” (ugh, that phrase)—even with the red flags and warning signs—especially for those said to have a troubled past with rejecting neglectful parental figures/ family members/ friends and have have not outgrown their wish to convert that sort of person into a loving, accepting person. When we want something we can’t or shouldn’t have, our desire for it grows exponentially. In fanfiction this is a concept writers and readers can explore safely in a world of the imaginary.

From a Meta Perspective

Although, if we look at it meta-ly, the cold and proud and/or knowledgeable Shizun (teacher/ master) character who comes to know love and “is redeemed” by whomever is the love interest (typically a cute and quirky girl who may or may not have started off as naive to the innerworkings of the Cultivation World and therefore needs an established and mature mentor to guide them) is a very well-known archetype for a reason in Chinese fan culture.

Seeing a terrible person change their ways and try to become a better person because of the influence of the one they love is also a popular depiction for a reason.

It’s almost like gap moe. The crueler and aloof one starts out as (arrogance is a staple), the more impactful the shift is when we see such characters soften their edges.

The draw of the sacred master/disciple relationship is that it’s taboo, so I think it’s fair to say that such a relationship in fiction is a popular trope precisely because of this aspect. From a writer’s perspective, the main appeal is to show that there is someone out there who can cause this respectful figure to lose control (undergo emotional change) and go to great lengths to protect his/her precious person. That precious person also has to fall into the “not like other girls” trope (so they can show the ML a different world he would not have seen the beauty of before). On the other side, we look forward to the point of the story where the love interest has their “Oh” moment and realizes their admiration has somehow shifted into love and attraction over the course of events.

Other Romantic Possibilities

It’s very likely. I personally like the fanon headcanon where anyone with Heavenly Demon blood running through their veins feels a compulsion to “obsessively fixate on one person” (TLJ —> SXY, LBH —> SQQ). Personally I don’t recall if this was canon or fanon, but someone had written something about LBH imprinting on one person in his lifetime on the account of his demon nature. And I like that theory (I think it’s likely more fanon than anything but it’s an intriguing idea full of possibilities!).

For him to fixate romantically on one person, I personally don’t think the prerequisite is just by being kind to LBH (but it probably adds to the person’s appeal). There’s probably other factors that go into this to capture the male protagonist’s eye, such as him finding someone attractive (or passes his own personal standards) and/or having good chemistry with that person. So I could see him being into other Shizuns and whomever else. Personally I also think there is appeal in the unobtainable. It’s one thing to have someone’s affection (see LBG and his harem of 600 wives who definitely aren’t shy about giving him affection), but it’s another to know you’ve earned the affections of someone you really like and respect (especially if it’s someone thought to be unobtainable).

As long as the writer can provide a plausible justification for me to suspend disbelief and they set up events to justify it, I can swallow just about any ship possibility. It doesn’t necessarily have to be SJ’s type of personality. (For example, I read a very good fanfiction before where the writer paired Luo Binghe with Ming Fan. Ming Fan, people!!! And they actually pulled it off! What a madlad! Mind, it’s Shen Yuan who had transmigrated into MF in that premise, but the writer set up events that showed how these two characters came to bond and develop a deep friendship which inevitably had LBH developing a crush on his shixiong. I use this as an example because this is the type of unexpected (crack)ship, but because the writer did their work trying to make it seem plausible, we can only admire their hard work and effort at pulling it off.)

As the saying goes, there are plenty of fishes in the sea! As the protagonist, LBH/LBG can have many OTP possibilities with just about anyone as long as the writer can make it plausible. It’s all about the character development and the story/ central themes they wish to tell with the ship!

(Note, these really aren’t hot takes, lol. I’m just having fun answering to this casually from the perspective of a writer. Thank you for your Ask, anon!)

[gentlemancowboy]

21 Favorite Creations of 2021

I was tagged by @deanncastiel and @becauseofthebowties to post my favorite or most popular creation for every month in 2021, but I had already started this list so I’m going to mash the two together. So in no particular order, here are my favorite creations of 2021:

#parallelsnatural (gifset): My OTPs. These were basically the exact same scene.

Season Gr8 (gifset): This was a Make Me Choose request and it’s still, to this day, one of my favorite general sets. 

Sure, John (edit): The edit that launched a thousand ships, as I like to call it. One of my first creations on this site and the one that really got me into the Supernatural fandom.

Dean Flirting with Cas (gifset): Oh, Dean. Honey. You ain’t subtle. And compiling these all back-to-back really made it that much more apparent. I love him, but he’s an idiot.

Destiel + Romance Arc Tropes (gifset): This is a lot different from the edits I normally do, and I had a blast making it.

The Gang Learns About Angel-Killing Bullets (gifset): When you try to break up your Supernatural viewing with It’s Always Sunny.

Destiel + The End (gifset): Loved my coloring on this set and no matter how hard I try I can’t seem to replicate it. 

TFW Takes a Case in Schitt’s Creek (gifset): Basically what my brand is all about. I only wish this could have happened irl.

Heartbreaker, Cosplayer also known as Dollynatural Part III (amv): Out of all my Dollynatural amvs, this one was by far my favorite to create (9 to 5 loses points because compiling all those clips was a PAIN). And—I mean—who doesn’t love Dean and his silly little outfits?

You Have Fallen in Every Way Imaginable (gifset): What is there to say about Castiel’s arc that hasn’t already been said. Loved creating this and playing around with different coloring than I normally do.

Kiss and Make Up (fic): My first fic! Had a ton of fun writing this.

Arcade (amv): As soon as I heard this song I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I think making this caused me permanent brain damage but I really like how if turned out. 

Four Times Dean Didn’t Meet Cas + One Time He Did (gifset): Lazarus Rising supremacy. 

Playing Dress-up in Cars with Boys (gifset): We love a good parallel.

Alexis Rose (gifset): This got very little traction but I loved making this set for one of my favorite characters. Extremely proud of my coloring on this as well.

Dean Reacting to Cowboys (gifset): I love him I love him I love him.

Destiel + First Class (gifset): My first lyric set! 

#gifyourhuckleberry (gifset): How I was first introduced to the #cowboycoven, who graciously brought me into the fold when I made this set thinking it was just a general fandom event 😅absolutely no regrets.

Slow Burn (gifset): I had a lot of fun with the overlays and fonts on this one.

10x22 (gifset): I loved this poem by @bestiarum so much that I made a set for part of it. I love how it came out.

How Mercurial is Life (fic): After months of writing and rewriting, I finally took the leap and started posting my crossover fic! I’m only 3 chapters into this but it continues to be a true labor of love. Can’t wait to see where it goes.

No pressure tagging @archivistsammy @cosmiccas @buckystiel @emeraldcas @xofemeraldstars and anyone else who might be interested in doing this prompt or the original one.