#and mostly because that character is not real

[roguestorm]

(Some of) My Favorite Scott/Jean Kisses

X-Men #98

I like the way Claremont initially establishes their relationship - Jean's flirtiness, Scott's hesitance. This isn't their first on-panel kiss, but it is one of the early ones, and I think it's really sweet. I love how Scott and Jean have changed as people in-universe and I love how they've changed as characters over the decades.

X-Men #132

I'm including this one mostly because two of the other kisses will reference it. Which isn't to say that I don't like it, because obviously I do, but I have nothing new to say about it. It's like THE Scott/Jean kiss.

X-Men #137

I think this kiss tends to get overshadowed by other parts of 137, which is fair, but there's something so tragic about the last kiss -- especially considering that Jean is possibly already planning for this to be their last kiss.

X-Factor #26

I was debating between the one in X-Factor #25 and this one, but the paneling here is unmatched. The 3 beats of the panels of her initiating, her explaining, and then him initiating is so good, especially with how expressive Simonson's body language is. And then that long pan out, so you just get the whole page really lingering in this moment.

X-Factor #53

I'm cheating and putting two kisses from this issue because I just love the range of Scott/Jean we get in this issue. The first one is so playful and fun, reminiscent of the kiss in X-Men #98, except Scott is no longer hesitant. And then the passion and romance of Jean "sweeping him off his feet," soundtracked with "As Time Goes By." And then Jean immediately getting caught in remembering the kiss in Arizona from X-Men 132 and Scott deciding that this playful and romantic evening is a wonderful time to propose, which Jean declines because she feels like she's being pushed into it. This issue is so good for the range, and these two kisses (plus the flashback one) really capture the complicated emotional journey of these two.

The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix #2

Nothing says romance like your son being totally exasperated by how often the two of you make out. The joys of parenthood. :)

Phoenix Resurrection: The Return of Jean Grey #5

The "stolen moment" quality of this kiss is so good. Scott is only alive so very briefly here, but they're both real and alive together for the first time in years (both in universe and in real world time). Like the 137 kiss, Jean may have some knowledge about the brief nature of the time they have left, but I think in this one, they're more on the same page -- Scott knows that he will have to die.

X-Men: Hellfire Gala (2022)

I like when they have sex!! I like when writers don't assume Jean is a virginal prude when she's been forward about her desires since at least X-Men #98. I also like when they have sex after planning how best to help the future of mutantkind together. This set-up deliberately invokes the 132 kiss, so it's especially noticeable how different the circumstances are and how much has changed for Scott and Jean since then.

Thank you for looking at these panels of Scott and Jean kissing, feel free to tell me what your favorite Scott/Jean kisses are.

[tbshorts]

The Best Panels of One Piece, Romance Dawn (chapter 1-7)

Full video scripts below the cut

Chapter 1:

What are the best panels in One Piece?

Chapter 1, being the very first one, obviously has quite a few contenders. Luffy's very first Gum Gum Pistol is an obvious one, setting the tone of One Piece's battles with its mixture of goofy and badass. Plus, god damn, even in chapter one Oda knew how to do an epic splash page.

I also like this panel, where Lucky Roux shoots a mountain bandit in the head. This too is a major tone setter, driving home the seriousness and danger of pirate life. The story up to this point mostly plays as fairly lighthearted comedy, and seeing the jolly cartoon fat guy casually murder a man shocks the audience a little bit. Despite the cartoony artstyle, this isn't a kiddy pirate adventure.

But the crown has to go to the passing of the straw hat from Shanks to Luffy. It's a panel that has only ever taken on more meaning as the story has gone on, and the symbol of the straw hat has taken on more and more importance. It represents the promise between Luffy and Shanks to meet again, Shanks recognizing Luffy as an equal, and it's the passing of a torch. That straw hat means something, and Shanks is passing it on to someone who he feels is a worthy heir to that significance. “Romance Dawn” indeed.

Chapter 2:

What are the best panels in One Piece?

Chapter 2 is all about establishing Luffy's character now that he's grown up, and especially the scale of the odds he's up against. What does his dream to be king of the pirates really mean?

And this is where Oda shows his skill not just as an action and comedy artist, but as a storyteller. He introduces Koby the Cabin Boy, a character who mostly exists to contrast Luffy. Scared, self-defeating and cowardly, even his body language is Luffy's direct opposite.

When Luffy says he will be king of the pirates, Oda drops the angle down low, playing Luffy's chill, unaffected sitting posture against Koby's shouting. His arms are wide, foreshortening even out of the panel as the nervous boy tries to communicate the jaw-dropping scale of what Luffy has said he will accomplish. "Don't tell me you're after the One Piece"?

We feel the weight of Koby's astonishment here, the monumental nature of what Luffy has promised to do. The One Piece isn't a silly bed-time story for children, it is a real thing, and to go after it is to march to almost certain death. And the fact that Luffy is so casual about it, because he has accepted death, is not normal. Luffy is not normal, and Oda establishes this visually through acting in every interaction he has with Koby.

Chapter 3:

What are the best panels in One Piece?

Chapter 3 introduces Zoro with this amazing panel, which, given how much of a martyr he is for the crew and Luffy, WOW what a hell of an establishing shot. But it also establishes one of the great running themes of One Piece, which is the abuse of power, and the value of freedom. Helmeppo lords his status as a navy failson over the townsfolk, abusing his position and status in a way we will see villains in the story do over and over again.

And Luffy does what Luffy will always do to those who use their power in this way. When he learns that Helmeppo lied to Zoro, let him believe he would be free if he survived a month tied up, only to plan an execution behind his back…

This happens.

There are many reasons One Piece is a fun and satisfying narrative to follow, Oda's dynamic and exciting art is a big one for me, but the thing I love the most might the vicious delight the story takes in showing us the ruling classes getting the ass-kicking they so richly deserve.

Chapter 4:

What are the best panels in One Piece?

Chapter 4 gives us perhaps one of the weakest villain designs in the series, which is Axe-Hand Morgan. His obsession with power and control foreshadows many of One Piece's best villains, but… hoo boy, not Oda's best character design.

On a better note, though, we're getting one of the most important recurring story beats in the narrative, which is the effect Luffy has on people around him. Koby, who not two chapters ago was a cowering appeasing wretch, walks into the execution grounds to free Zoro because he can't stand to see the navy oppressing people this way. He accepted abuse from Alvida, but no more. Luffy changes the people around him, and the most important thing he does is set them free of their fear. He teaches people to pursue their freedom, even if it costs them their lives. He will do this many times throughout the story, and Koby won't be the last person who almost dies to chase the dream Luffy kindled in them.

Chapter 5:

What are the best panels in One Piece?

In Chapter 5 the obvious choice might be Luffy taking bullets for his friends in the nick of time, which is a very Luffy thing to do, but I think the best panel is something much quieter. We get a flashback to Zoro's backstory, and his rivalry with childhood friend and swordfighting prodigy Kuina, who is idly one of the most transmasculine characters in anime history.

The panel that strikes me the most in this chapter, though, is this one. It's just a little transitional panel, Kuina lying there, dead, with the words "humans are fragile things Zoro" hovering above. Oda uses crosshatching to just barely hint at the eye sockets under the cloth, which otherwise erases Kuina's face, erasing identity, erasing life. It's such a quiet and disquieting panel, such a matter-of-fact reminder of cold mortality in the middle of all Zoro's hotblooded shouting. It's a death that is so meaningless, and Zoro, in taking Kuina's sword with him, is trying desperately to make it meaningful. If he becomes the greatest swordsman in the world, then everyone will know that Kuina was his greatest rival.

I think it's the same reason so many One Piece fans want Tashigi to turn out to be Kuina in the end. Because the idea that people can just vanish from our lives, so coldly and so pointlessly… it's a scary thought to have.

Chapter 6:

What are the best panels in One Piece?

In Chapter 6, the easy answer, I guess, is the big epic Oda splash page of the Gum Gum Whip taking out a dozen Marines, but… I mean you know it has to be the introduction of the Three Sword Style. Dear Zoro, with his cool bandana and his intense looks and his tragic backstory… and here he is with a sword in his mouth.

This is the power of One Piece. Because on the one hand, this is stupid. This is objectively stupid. Holding a sword in your mouth is dumb, this looks dumb, this doesn't work, this is cartoon nonsense that doesn't make any goddamn sense.

On the other hand… this totally fucking rules. Oda presents it so perfectly with that hunched over power pose blocking ten swords at once, and the black bandana over his head, although I'll never forgive the translators for covering this much of the art over with sound effects. You miss the rope still falling from his body and the scabbards still in the air from Zoro unsheating them so fast. This panel bypasses every critical neuron in my brain, and speaks to the primal, stupid lizard and monkey part of my man brain that goes "ooooh, three swords cool!" And nobody does that like Oda.

Chapter 7:

What are the best panels in One Piece?

Chapter 7 sees our first parting of ways, with Koby remaining behind to enlist in the Marines. It's mostly an exposition chapter, a cool down from all the action with Axe Hand Morgan, but Oda once again uses what could be boring exposition to do good character building. Because Luffy and Zoro are pirates, they can't stay in a navy town, and as they leave, Luffy begins to spill the beans on how Koby was a cabin boy for a pirate, which might ruin his chances to enlist. And Koby, desperately torn up about saying goodbye to his first real friend… punches Luffy to shut him up. Which then becomes evidence that Koby isn't with them, isn't a pirate, so he can enlist.

It's the first moment Koby fully asserts himself, it's the first punch he throws for his dream as a Marine, but it is also a moment of revelation. However simple-minded Luffy seems, so straightforward and oblivious, here he reveals a deep understanding not only of other people but of the things they need, the push they need to find their courage. He pushes Koby's buttons to force him to commit to his dream, to force him to renounce piracy, and when Koby does… Luffy couldn't be more proud. And maybe a little smug.

[funnyscienceman]

yknow midway through episode 7 i thought, holy shit, was act 2 really just the weak link? does act 3 save it?

then we got to episode 8 and i was like oh, no. right. ok. nevermind, carry on i guess.

this season still doesnt register as real by the by. like, memes about singed aside. actually the whole reason why i joke that the entirety of arcane was just him is because he's the only one who remained mostly consistent throughout seasons 1 and 2. everyone else just changed and changed and changed at the drop of a hat. there was so little development of character, rarely did anyone talk about anything or just sit with what's been going on. i think i've said this before, but if season 1 was rushed then season 2 was breakneck speed, and it's broken several necks and got several bodies by the time the ride finished.

it's like i'm still waiting for the actual season 2 to drop. which, yknow, i'm not. i want riot to leave these characters and their stories tf alone after all that, it's just that this whole thing felt like fanfic put up on the big screen. and fanfic can be fun, fanfic can be great, fanfic can be spectacular. quality varies because a lot of the time, fanfic is made by one person in their bedroom.

This is an entire writing team. For a TV show. With almost 300 million dollars in budget.

What

[notthegrouch]

Fiction was once invented to teach, sure, but it wasn't meant to exclusively teach morals. It's meant as an exploration tool that offers an extra degree of safety! Every idea explored in fiction doesn't necessarily have to be explored in real life. by this method you can explore many topics and courses of actions that you couldn't or wouldn't ever explore in real life.

it's very important that you know that fictional characters are fictional (even if they are based on real life people) and are purposefully designed in such a way to service the exploration of the topics as best as possible by having empathetic (though not always sympathetic) traits and by upholding the logics of cause and effect.

As story does not work if a reader, or story teller for that matter, just produces nonsense that cannot be followed because neither reader nor writer cared to think about actions, motivations and causes. at that point it's at best a list of items, not a story.

In functioning stories you can explore topics in a metaphysical, magical or metaphorical way of thinking. You can explore the actions and possible consequences of those actions, despite never ever wanting to do these things in real life. You can explore your traumatic experiences from the perspective of your the abuser. You can learn to memorize the basics of a scientific process by using the story structure as a mnemonic. and the reasoning for writing these things can be yours, and yours alone, but the cool thing about fiction is you can share the end result: you can tell/write/draw/commision/film the story.

you don't HAVE to learn anything about the real world, and none of these types of stories need to have a moral lesson (in fact unless you read fables and childrens media, you often don't learn moral lessons) but reading stories does always train either empathy, sympathy, reasoning, insight in causality, or a combination of these factors.

Whether or not you learn a moral lesson or not THROUGH the empathy and sympathy that you feel for the characters is mostly just a secondary thing. that happens AFTER a story is written well enough that you can form empathy for something or someone that doesn't even exist.

“it sounds like you’re justifying their actions-“ i am. they’re a fictional character. i’m okay with anything they do all the time. hope this helps.

[hyperfixation-fix]

Alright girls, guys, and gays - welcome to...

A Newby's Guide to the Marauders Fandom

You keep seeing your mutuals post about this Harry-Potter-adjacent fandom. It seems cool, and pretty damn gay, and you're kinda curious to know more. Except there's one problem: there is little-to-no actual canon.

How do you get into a fandom with little-to-no canon material?

Well friends, I'm here to help! Consider this post your roadmap to the fandom - useful locations are noted, major landmarks and tourist destinations are starred, and recommended routes are highlighted.

But where you actually go is up to you.

Level 1: The Basics

If you're the freshest of fresh meat to this fandom, you may like to start with a nice little overview of our chaos-fanon. Here are some YouTube videos that give you a good tl;dr:

a deep dive into the marauders fandom by uncarley (YouTube video, general topic, no major content warnings) - this is a great starter video, especially if you're not a fandom person usually. It's digestible, fun, and not too lore-heavy.

The Marauders Era Fandom Deep Dive! by Coffeekoe (YouTube video, general topic, no major content warnings) - alternatively (or in addition), this is another great starter video, but possibly more from a fandom-familiar perspective. Also Coffeekoe just has great vibes and I want to kiss them on the forehead. Mwuah mwuah mwuah.

Marauders Era Ships Deep Dive! by Coffeekoe (YouTube video, several different ships, no major content warnings) - after you've got the gist of how the fandom works, you might want to know a bit more about the common Marauders ships. This video gives an awesome (and comprehensive) overview.

Level 2: The Canon in the Fanon

You're going to have a pretty tough time in the fandom if you're not at least somewhat familiar with The Fanfic™��, All the Young Dudes. This fic is as highly revered (if not more so) than the real actual canon text (obligatory fuck JKR).

First off let's understand what it is.

All the Young Dudes is a long-form fanfiction written by MsKingBean89 and published on Archive of Our Own. And when I say long-form, I mean long-form - this thing is a monstrous 188 (chunky) chapters long. It spans from 1971, when the Marauders start their first year at Hogwarts, until 1995, when Remus dies. Speaking of which, it's also canon-compliant, so I'll save you some heartache and tell you right now that all of the characters die in pretty tragic ways. I'm not going to lie to you, it's a pretty heavy story - there are strong themes of child abuse, homophobia, underage drinking/smoking, drug abuse, abusive relationships, and trauma. BUT. I really enjoyed it and have read it twice now, simply because the happy bits are worth the painful bits.

With all of that in mind, here are (my recommendations for) your options for acquiring your ATYD education:

All The Young Dudes Deep Dive! by Coffeekoe (YouTube video, ATYD, some light discussion of triggering topics mentioned above, spoiler heavy!!!) - yep that's right, it's Coffeekoe again. Mwuah mwuah mwuah. This video is a super duper great alternative to reading ATYD, or a great way to dip your toe in and see if you want to commit to reading it in full. Obviously it's spoiler heavy, so if you already know you want to read ATYD and spoilers bug you, just skip it.

All the Young Dudes by MsKingBean89 (AO3 fic, mostly Wolfstar, triggers as mentioned above) - here's just a straight up link to the fic. You may need an account on AO3 to access it.

All the Young Dudes by BIBLIOBIBULI (YouTube, same as above) - if you're like me and love the idea of reading a long-fic, but don't actually have the time/energy/patience/stamina to do it, an audiobook might be the way to go! This one is great, and complete. You're welcome 🫶

Level 3: Fics of Note

Okay! By now, you should have received your official Marauders Fandom Certification in the mail (or, I guess, via owl), and you're pretty much free to go and explore the fandom on your own. You may, however, still come across references that confuse you. Those (probably) come from one of the many, many, many popular fics in the fandom.

Here's just a few of the major ones and links to them, for your convenience (asterisks indicate fics that require an account to access):

NOTE: This is not a rec list. Approach with caution and read all the tags.

Crimson Rivers by bizarrestars*

Just Lovers (Like We Were Supposed To Be) by bizarrestars*

Best Friend's Brother by bizarrestars*

Choices by MesserMoon

Kill Your Darlings by MesserMoon

All the Young Dudes - Sirius's Perspective by Rollercoasterwords

The Cadence Of Part-Time Poets by motswolo

Art Heist, Baby! by otrtbs

Only the Brave by Solmussa*

Level 4: You're On Your Own, Kid

You're still here? Why are you still here? You should be out there, enjoying your newly acquired fandom!

Fine, one last piece of advice and then you really have to leave:

Engage.

This fandom is unique because it is the weird, Frankenstein's-Monster-esque lovechild of thousands of strange little obsessive gremlin people like you and me. Sure, it only has one eye and far too many nipples, but who cares? We made this and we love it. And it's your job, as someone in the fandom, to keep it alive by engaging. Yes, this is true for every fandom, but even more so here. Comment, reblog, share, recommend fics, ask for fic recs. Fuck it, create too - write, draw, share headcanons, make playlists. It doesn't matter if it's "bad" or "wrong", there aren't any fucking rules.

Add another nipple, by all means! Eyes are overrated anyway.

[clemelntine]

Heartkillers ep 1 uncohesive stray thoughts

Im taking this being the frame/scene they put jojos name on as evidence it is important or at least has a lot of thought/imput by Jojo put into it. I'm desperately trying to hold onto the theorie/analysis I wrote on this frame.

The red room was indeed the hotel room. Also, that looks like more than just a lovehotel. Like the railings and plastic curtains, is this a (hardcore) sex room?

Wing tattoo on his back with vertical line that forms a cross together with the text I can't read, of course. I'm being very sane about this (adds to list of religious imagery in this show)

Ooeh a book, gonna have to look at the story and in what ways it connected to their story/Kant's character

Horrible foreshadowing, darling. Don't shoot yourself in the foot like that

Absolute cutie, omg look at him

Me to me

Gonna have to look into Immanuel Kants' work as well to see what it can tell us about Kant

Why does Bison have more them one shirt with an art nouveau Jesus pattern on it. What does that mean?!?!

Tried so hard to take a screenshot that had the bird/crow in it but failed. Anyway, gonna have to look up what that means, cuz no way they'd add that with su h a loud caww if it didn't have any importance. (Running theorie, crow as an omen of death)

Absolutely in love with Styles obnoxious style [shut up] of flirting

Also, no sc for this, but nong Bison. Nong Khaotung, really. I'm not surprised with how much babygirl energy they put into that character, but still. Five year age difference fk, I wouldn't have expected

This is mostly KantBison rn because I am a firstkhao fan at heart, but looking at Fadel and Styles characters, I expect to be falling in love with them real soon.

[leefail]

I was thinking... The Robins was a mobile adoption sim (otome game style), launched a few years back with the hope of a revolutionary take on the dating sim genre. The game, though, lost its audience real quick. Because it wasn't a dating sim.

And then we have Bruce Wayne, a multibillionaire shut-in, never seen outside of the Wayne Manor ever since his parents met their tragic death, with the one person who remembers he existed being the Waynes' aged butler.

Don't let his being a shut-in fool you, Bruce was never good with electronic devices, let alone video games. His days were mostly spent sleeping and trying to chase the demons inside his head away with books.

That's how he downloaded The Robins, a click on an ad that told him to... click. (In big bold green letters with an arrow) It got him to the downloading link, and he just downloaded it.

Bruce became an addict. The game had four main capture targets: Dick, Jason, Tim, and Damian. Along with a bunch of other secret routes you can unlock during your playthrough.

The gameplay was simple enough. You just have to increase a character's favourability to the max for them to get adopted. Favourability increases with each unlocked special scene, and special scenes are unlocked with a certain number of successful interactions.

Special scenes were Bruce's favourite part. He'd hold his breath so tight and sit straight like a scholar for an exam and give all of his attention to the screen. You wouldn't guess he was playing a game.

The first one he played was with Dick. The young adult was sitting on the rooftop and Bruce followed him there. They talked and joked. Bruce never thought it was a special scene until the spark in Dick's eyes was gone, and he told him about his parents' death.

"Sometimes," Bruce could only see Dick's side profile as he talked, "Sometimes I wonder, Bruce. Would this have happened if I just... wasn't there? Could I have been a... a changeable variable?"

"Am I still a changeable variable?"

... For an even bigger tragedy that is about to happen.

As Dick's loud cries filled the room. Bruce's pillow became soaked with his own tears.

As for his favourite character? It was Jason, who, when Bruce finally maxed his favourability points with, disappeared instead of getting adopted. Bruce was so upset about it he spent a whole night writing a harsh criticising review. A gamer took a screenshot of his comment later, and it became an embarrassing meme that was the talk of the gaming community for a while. Bruce wasn't aware of this because he didn't have social media. (I need to mention that his username in the app store was his actual full name)

You can imagine the stress he felt when Jason returned with the rage of a burning sun.

"You know what I hate most about you, Bruce?"

His gloved hands clutched the neck of Bruce's character shirt, yanking him up so they're face to face. "It's that you're a fucking coward"

"It only took one tiny inconvenient problem for you to hide in your little corner and just give up"

"Because, heh" Jason's expression was vicious when he grinned mockingly, devastatingly at Bruce's face, looking straight through the man's phone sceen "you're saaadd. You just lost the closest thing you have to a son, so you're a sad, pathetic, miserable loser. It's an enough justification for you to just. Stop. Tryyyinggg!"

"If I wanted a dad. It wouldn't be someone who'd make my absence the blame for whatever cowardly shit he's on."

"It would be someone who even when I die, would fucking carve mountains with my name so no one could forget.

... I never died, Bruce. But everybody forgot"

"If I wanted a dad, it would be someone who'd hold my hand, " Jason caught Bruce's character's shoulder in a death grip, " and pull me up, he would come to me...

He- he would pull himself out of his own stupid head just so he could come to me" when Jason cried, Bruce closed the game.

For the long time Bruce spent wallowing in his room. Never had he felt so... heavy as he did in the later days. He could sense the weight of food in his stomach, and his butt would be numb no matter how many times he changed his position. He was tired, spent, and no book could keep his attention for long. It got to the point where Pennyworth, his butler, finally talked to him for the first time after their big fight.

"Master Bruce, you are not touching your food. Are you alright?"

Bruce's throat twisted in on itself.

No, he was not, and had not been for a long, long time.

He didn't reply, instead.. he opened the game.

He still got Tim and Damian to capture. After all.

[bluedalahorse]

I feel like there’s some meaningful stuff here about Sara and August’s relationship, so I wanted to reblog and lift those up here! Sara has traditionally been unfairly slammed by the fandom, even though her actions were meaningfully different from August’s in season 2. And a lot of times saraugust is held up as this ontologically evil foil to wilmon, even though both pairings juxtapose the capacity to be sweet and loving with some pretty intense teenage flaws.

Personally, while I understand why they happen, I’ve always been a little wary of discussions of “is Sara a bad person/is August a bad person.” I understand why this framing works for some fans, but it doesn’t work for me. Mostly because a while back, Omar was talking in an interview, and he talked about Lisa’s writing philosophy being that there aren’t good and bad people in her stories, there are people in her stories who are capable of good and bad actions. Now, authorial intent can only go so far, I get that. But I do think this is a theme that underpins the series. I think they did a great job of showing Sara’s complexity and growth over the season. I do think there were some fumbles to August’s writing in season 3 that led a portion of the audience to believe he never changed, ever, over the course of the series. I think the show would have benefitted from him and Simon having a chance to do restorative work outside of their relationships with Wille. At the same time, I don’t think season 3 was without growth for August. @sflow-er’s post on the Fleabag parallel does a great job of breaking down August’s arc. I’m not saying any of this negates the harm August does—far from it—but I do think the show is inviting us to envision a better future for August where he grows and changes, especially in our fanworks.

And that’s what I want to talk about in this reblog: fanworks. It’s been a long time since people were acknowledging the saraugust nuance in season 2, and ultimately how fascinating the pairing is, but there’s still only 96 fics tagged Sara/August on AO3 and only a few are actually about them.

I think, what I’m sad about most when it comes to Young Royals fandom, is that there is no fanworks community around Sara and August the way there is for wilmon, at least on tumblr. There are individual people who are interested in their dynamic, and some of them create fanworks from time to time, and some of us reach out to one another and have meaningful and wonderful one-on-one conversations in our inboxes. But there’s very few reblog chains about them where people are just expressing fun headcanons, there’s very little circulating fanart, there’s some gifsets and edits but they don’t circulate as frequently, no fandom events or challenges themed around them, no following and cheering on of Malte and Frida’s careers, (to my knowledge) no epic multichapter saraugust fics we discuss together and swoon over and make starry eyes over.

To be clear: I don’t think I’d ever expect saragust to have the same size of following wilmon does. There are many factors that make wilmon more popular, first and foremost being that August does real legitimate harm and is annoying and kind of sucks. Like, hey! I get it! Not everyone is going to like him, and that’s perfectly okay. And then there’s the fact that not everyone who’s drawn to an m/m show is going to feel excited to ship a f/m pairing. As @crownedwille points out, fandoms sure can do some stuff when female characters are involved. Of course saraugust will get smaller numbers.

But as someone who’s been tracking the saraugust breadcrumbs in fandom for a while, and has been following their tag on AO3, what I’m noticing is not exactly a natural absence of interest in the pairing. It’s more like I see a lot of people who have an interest in the characters and the dynamics, but something about the way YR fandom interacts socially reinforces the notion that you keep your saraugust feelings to yourself. Or, for a while if you were expressing those feelings, you were encouraged to express them in ways that are full of apologies and disclaimers. When you’re spending all your time doing that, it becomes a lot harder to create fanworks. Like, even in the tags of this post, I see a lot of people saying they liked them or found them interesting or cute or they’re hooked in by the drama or whatever else! Clearly the enjoyers exist and are out there. I think the discourse (and the harassment of actors/writers/creative team on social media) has died down a lot since the finale and there’s more space to like the characters, but I also think that some of the patterns of fandom interaction that sprung up post-S2 have had a continued impact on how people express themselves.

And yes, it’s important to be mindful of the morally dubious sides of this pairing, but we can do that while creating space for people to openly enjoy it through fic and headcanons and edits and such the way that many people in the fandom openly enjoy wilmon, even if it’s a smaller group of us. (Heck, some people enjoy saraugust because of the moral dubiousness and that is part of a Valid Fandom Tradition of enjoying morally dubious pairings.)

As someone who’s currently feeling a little burned out on wilmon by itself and doesn’t really have a desire to read works centered on them, but who’s still in love with the broader YR world and its characters, especially my two favorite characters—I am desperate for a little bit less saraugust discourse and a little bit more joyous fannishness about them. I’m not entirely sure how to make that happen. I’ve been writing fic, blogging about the characters, creating ask games, posting pictures of the plushies, and also doing some other stuff behind the scenes. But I often don’t post or reblog as much as I could for fear of discourse returning, and I feel disconnected from fandom most of the time, even though I have some strong individual ties to individual people. (I also feel like I may have burned some bridges at times when I was upset.) It’s a bit of a sisyphean conundrum, isn’t it? I wish I could wave a magic wand and make more fanworks and community happen around this pairing in particular, but also around other pairings and characters on the show for the fans who want those other pairings and characters. I just wish there was a little more variety in the characters and pairings talked about.

Anyway, I don’t have any answers and it’s time for me to acquire groceries for the week, so. Blue out.

There's so much discourse around Sara and August. Whether they were good together or not. Whether they loved each other or not.

What we tend to overlook is the fact that they talked to each other. Enough that they knew each other.

He wanted someone to talk to and he thought about her. So he went to find her and he knew to find her in the stables. Then he immediately proved to her that he was someone "safe" by petting her horse. She misunderstood his invitation that evening but he didn't make her feel bad about it. We know she talked to him about the Felice Horse Selling Thing™️ because when she comes to say that Felice was officially selling the horse, he just said "I thought you already knew that" because she had already told him.

Sara talked to August. The same why August talked to Sara. He opened up about the drugs and why he used them. He opened up about being Wilhelm's back up. He opened up about his guilt and about feeling like a horrible person.

She talked to him about her horse and about Felice. Two things that she considers the most important in her life. She also opens up to him about wanting to fit in. Wanting to "be like him" meaning that she wanted to be like the Hillerska crowd.

They talked to each other.

So like, yes, they did horrible things. They are bad people. But they aren’t incapable of caring. And they aren't entirely self centered. That's what makes their individual betrayals even more heartbreaking. Because we know they're capable of caring and they made the choices they did anyway.

[flower-boi16]

The main reason I don't like the Pentious backstory leak is because it's very heavily implied it's Jack the Ripper, aka, a REAL killer who actually murdered real women, and Viv decided to use such a tragic thing for "her character's sad backstory 🥺"

After she apparently claimed it'd be distasteful to include the Titanic in Baxter's backstory.

She easily could've done a fictional killer, and I hope it turns out it actually isn't Jack the Ripper, but I don't have high hopes... especially with the Jeffery Dahmer stuff from the pilot

Also, the backstory is kinda confusing with how he went from being so heartbroken and regretful about letting these women die just to go haywire in Hell, wanting to take over it, cause turf wars, or whatever

It definitely seems very hypocritical for Viv to make that kind of decision in her writing after saying that. You also do raise a good point about how we’re missing some of the pieces here, though maybe it could be explained once the season comes out but I don’t think it will.

It really feels like the backstory was made after Pentious’s creation, and it was then just slapped on there to give him some kind of depth (which fails due to it coming after his sacrifice), making this another example of how poorly structured Viv’s shows are. Not to mention it ends up feeling like a retcon because like you said, this doesn’t line up properly with what we were shown of his character before.

Pentious as a character is even representative of most of Hazbin’s problems when it comes to its characters; the “growth” is mostly off-screen, we don’t see him developing any real relationships with the characters especially Cherri who he has a rushed romance with for SOME REASON even though the pilot explicitly showed them being enemies, so, where the fuck did this come from???

All of this makes Pentious’s sacrifice completely and utterly hollow because we have no reason to give a shit about him or his relationships with the other characters. It’s played off as a joke and then taken seriously two seconds later, so why even make it a joke at all?

It’s supposed to be this big character moment for him now I GUESS but without the build up it’s completely hollow. The backstory in Season 2 should have been in the first season, that would have AT LEAST made the sacrifice feel like it had even a little bit of build up. But the writers decided to have it after the sacrifice, which is literally just having the build up come after the payoff.

That’s not how you make a good character moment. That’s not how you structure an arc, period. These problems all lead Pentious as a character completely hollow and a downgrade from how he was in the pilot.

Pentious is a shit tier character is what I’m saying, basically. There were SO MANY THINGS they could have done with him as a character that could have made for a compelling arc that they just didn’t do because the pacing and structuring of this show is complete ass.

[bearcubblues]

do you make requests for gravity falls if so could you make hcs about little Stanford and CG Stanley?

YEAH i can do that!!! gravity falls is one of my oldest interests :3 and the stans are probably my fav characters... so ya!

unsure at what point in their life you're after here so i'll just do a little bit of everything !

1.) as kids

-i think ford's regression would start to present itself in late middle school. for me, that's when school started to get to where i needed to actually try, and i think ford would experience something similar - i think stress would lead to him wanting to enjoy the things he did when he was a kid again

-neither of them would know this behavior had a name - stan was just excited that his brother wanted to play again

2.) high school

-by high school ford would know with certainty what was happening - it would never be something he did often, because he would be incredibly embarrassed

-he never fully explained it to stan, but stan knew when ford would act different, and would always make him snacks and make sure filbrick never saw ford acting different

3.) adulthood

-after meeting bill, regression became something different for ford - obviously bill was aware of it and liked it when ford did it around him. but it wasn't ever the same without stan

-stan pretty much forgot about all of it. he had always just brushed it off as ford being kind of weird so it wasn't really something memorable. of course ford was weird

4.) current day/events of the show

-by now ford felt like he could actually explain the concept to stan - who will nod and say yes he totally gets it. no need to explain further. then that night go and read 4,652 articles about it

-next day he asks ford if he still does it and if he even wants him to take care of him anymore. because he would love to

-which was very difficult for him to say and very difficult for ford to hear because he can't fathom someone actually wanting to care for him

-they spend a lot of time reading and drawing and exploring. ford mostly takes the reins and stan just makes sure he doesn't get hurt. ford's motor control is bad when he's regressed (he just like me for real) so there's a lot of stan helping him step over logs or climb big rocks

-the kids don't technically know about it but mabel knows what agere is and found some of ford's drawings once and has a sneaking suspicion. but she won't bring it up because she doesn't want to embarrass anyone

these were fun sorry it took me 3000 years to write them. i am so busy all the time

[mrhrns]

Astarion issue

Consider this post as another meaningless shitpost from me. After it I'm going back to my endless work. I was silent about this for gods know how much time, and now I can't hold it inside. Not anymore. Important note: I do realise that I am nobody and my word has no power and blahblahblah, yet I think it is significant, at least for my own self, and who knows, maybe I'll find people with same thoughts. There is... a reason I would like to stay out from BG3 community and fandom. I do wish to contribute my own art someday, however, because my love for this game, its characters and Larian st is huge, but getting inside of fandom, searching for things here and there? ...I don't think I want it. And yeah, that bloodsucker bastard is a main reason for it. Not him directly, but how people perceive him. What they think about him. What they feel. What they show, draw, tell and discuss with everyone else about him. And mostly all of it is... Well... I have complicated feelings about it. None of them are pleasant. Disturbance, disgust, disappointment, and many more similar to it. Why? Here where I realise that mostly the problem is myself. "It's just a fictional character, just some pixels on your screen with voice, why care?" I do. If only anybody knew how much he means to me. I don't have light and easy life, I am in a constant state of survival, I have a list of many different traumas, and holding him in my little silly head helps getting through that shit. Pure shit. Believe me. Because, hell, surviving all he had in his undead life and still managing to be that charismatic (even if it's just a mask), that willing to move forward (even with mood "well, we are doomed")? An icon. Imperfect and by doing so relatable in almost everything for me. And that is why my brain can't help it but feel about him everything like he is alive. Existent. Just somewhere else, far away with no chance of meeting him. And that is why whenever I see porn arts with him, thirsty commentaries, erotic merch like statues, discussions whether he will drink the menstrual blood or not (and even getting his main scenarist involved in that crap) and god damn, that full-sized sex-doll? A bitter irony that his whole point as of fictional character was also showing him as a person with sex-trauma, who was always perceived as a pretty toy-thing for a night against his will with no care for his actual personality in his world, and it is exactly what people do in real life. Here I am glad he isn't real. All of it isn't surprising, though, considering that steam achievements have shown that only a half of players got through the first act.They don't know and they don't want to know. Am I going to tell people what to do and how they should enjoy these fictional things? Of course not. But I would be damn glad if people were digging just a bit more under the surface, but it's a whole other problem that goes with everything else in our world. I just really needed to pull this all out from my brains and put it somewhere, sitting in my dark corner and grumbling at people, just like always. And in the end - yes, I do understand that not all of his fans are like that. Doesn't really help with going frustration.

[blue-cat-shitposts]

Thank you for peer-reviewing my tags lol. I think it's also fascinating when we look at it from the existential horror angle.

Yes, the Mechs are overpowered and are beyond the scope of the world they interact with - but aside from recording the story itself, they mostly just fuck around, either aiding the story in tiny ways (Brian in HNOC and Aurora, Nastya and Jonny in OUATIS) or being a mild nuisance (Marius and the crew in TBI). So you might be tempted to think that it's just a good Bit, that "haha these all-powerful beings choose to interact with the characters strictly in the ways that are the most fun for them"

But then, there's Ashes.

Ashes Fuckin' O'Reilly.

Who you should, frankly, be absolutely terrified of.

Because THEY decided that the best use of their practically god-like powers over the mortals... is to actually, genuinely play god. And actively not only participate in, but orchestrate and uphold a big part of the genuine misery the world they interact with is experiencing. As Hades, they've directly orchestrated the entire scenario we hear about in Ulysses Dies At Dawn - puppeteered the lives of real people who had their own real goals, hopes and aspirations, turning them into mere pawns, for the explicit sole purpose of satiating their curiosity about one specific mystery of this world. And then as we can read in the fiction, once that curiosity was satiated, they did not hesitate in burning that entire world full of equally real, complex people, into the ground - simply because that world held no more interest to them, and they had no more use for it.

And the other Mechs don't have any huge moral qualms about it either. The story is done. They can move on. Because the Mechanisms fundamentally live on an entirely different plane of existence than the characters in their stories. Jonny asks if it still counts as cannibalism if you're no longer human - does it still count as genocide if you're no longer human? Do morals matter or exist if you're fundamentally above the people they should apply to?

What I'm saying is the Mechs can be terrifying if you think about the Implications of them being outside the narrative, yet able to interact with it. To them, these people really are just characters, pawns, or figures on a diorama. Their ONLY use to the Mechs is making yet another entertaining story to fill eternity with. Jonny just decides to be more whimsical about it.

Something about “let’s get this party started the only way we know” and “if you’re finished playing at soldier you might’ve noticed we cannot die” of Sleeping Beauty just hits SO FUCKING HARD

Like they’re all just space bastards with way too much power and questionable morals having a GREAT time doing whatever the hell they do, blowing shit up and causing chaos

(And their morals may be questionable but at least they’re consistent, Jonny would rather blow up a planet than kiss a stranger without consent and yk what? I support that)

[everymangirl]

I saw a reddit thread today complaining about poor characterization in The Magnus Archives. People were complaining about all the hate the other characters directed towards the protagonist in seasons 2-3. And I didn't comment because I think it was a fairly old thread, but I was thinking, "are we talking about the same protagonist? Jon Simms? The Archivist? You don't think he *deserves* that hate?" And I love Jon, but mostly it's because he's such a relatable idiot. He's been faking competency ever since the first season. He's not the most qualified on paper to be Head Archivist (despite being the best suited for the ~actual~ job). He fakes being a skeptic, behaves arrogantly, and treats the visitors of the Institute horribly. I'm convinced that he only hates on Martin as a way to cover his real emotions, even in the beginning. Like a child bullying their crush! (I'm sure people who thought Magnus Archives had bad characterization would have *hated* their love story finally falling in place in season 4.) And I haven't even touched on the paranoia! And even as Jon grows and tries his best to become a hero, he makes so many mistakes. And the listener relates to Jon, and we forgive him for his mistakes. But I understand why Tim, Martin, Bashira, Melanie, and Georgie might have a harder time! They are mad at him for more reasons than "showing their hypocrisy." It has been a long time since I last listened to the later seasons, I remember most of them were mad at how his mistakes related to him pushing his team mates away. And most did forgive or soften on him eventually. The primary draw of Magnus Archives are the statements to be sure. And I can definitely see why the show wouldn't be for everyone. But to claim that the characterization is ~bad~ because you don't like it seems ridiculous. You can just not like it...you don't have to declare it's poorly done to do so.

[dark-sundrop]

Tell me why I saw someone say this:

Ahem… girl we got beef rn- how the hell do you like the creator- listen I know he has simps for some f*cking reason you don’t need to repeat that.

But I swear if someone EITHER A MUTUAL OR A FOLLOWER likes the creator…

ISTG-

I’m not hating you.

That’s it I proved my point.

[bangs head on desk]

AHHHHHHHHH

WHY DO YOU EVEN LIKE THEM- THIS HAPPENED BEFORE THE NICE CREATOR CAME- I DIDNT THINK PEOPLE WERE SO CRUEL THAT THEY WOULD LIKE A LITTERAL MANIAC-/hj

But seriously I’m not gonna hate you lmao

[read tags]

[godisasimp]

VoidSeeker | Herrscher of Dream

[puppyeared]

beep beep im a sheep

speeddraw below the cut (audio warning)

song: "Cult of Dionysis" by The Orion Experience