#and then try to do a meta of sorts

[gunsmiths]

good afternoon/morning everyone ! 💕💕

[labarch]

Threshold of Humanity: so about those demons huh?

Today, I conclude that the way Qifrey stands in doorways is the strongest proof we’ve had so far that Qifrey is, in fact, not human, but an artificial being born of forbidden magic. Or, as the witch society seems to name them, a “demon”.

Lots of images and spoilers up to chapter 69 under the cut!

On the outside looking in

Let’s start by saying that in this chapter, Qifrey is back to his old habit of looking as suspicious as humanely possible. The first page is the only one where we briefly see his eye, with a look I want to describe as sorrowful, bitter and knowing. For the rest of the scene his face will stay partially hidden, and he never looks full on at the castle guard he is speaking to. His demeanor is distant, in contrast to the guard’s confusion and panic. In fact, it is a little funny how dodgy he is acting, given that he does nothing but noble deeds this entire chapter – bringing an escaped criminal back into custody, taking his apprentice to safety, safeguarding the medical tower against further attacks with a layer of salt.

So far, this looks like Qifrey’s classic brand of guilt-ridden self-sabotage, but the framing of the scene provides extra context. The threshold to Ezrest’s castle acts as a physical barrier separating Qifrey from the other man. During those three pages, they are both often shown framed by that doorway: the guard safe within the walls, contrasting Qifrey the outsider. The first page has a gust of wind pushing his robes around him, like an invisible force keeping him back. And we do know, because Qifrey emphasises this again for us, that this castle does indeed possess a natural repulsive force that keeps out monsters.

We are told in chapter 47 that, not only drawing magic within Ezrest castle won’t function, but that the castle’s walls repels all magical artefacts. It is because of that property that, when Coco notices that the leeches have not approached the castles’ walls, Qifrey immediately concludes that their current monstrous form is the result of a magical experiment.

Of course, “demons” are not the only beings who would be unable to enter the castle: any active spell should be repelled, meaning that Olruggio, for instance, can’t enter with his beautifying mask. Coco, with the bracelet stuck around her wrist, technically shouldn’t be able to enter at all, and the same goes for the characters with active magic drawn directy on their skin, like Coustas, Dagda and Eunie. In fact, even if he were perfectly human, it would be only natural for Qifrey to not step inside, since he couldn’t go in without taking off his glasses, which contain spells both to hide his scar and to protect him from harsh light.

And yet. I can’t help but see a very pointed parallel between Qifrey’s confidence that the castle will repel monsters, and the way the castle’s entrance seems to subtly repel him. In particular because it adds on to a long series of scenes featuring Qifrey’s anxieties around unnatural, magically created beings. This is at least the third time Qifrey brings up the creation of monsters in the days before the pact, which he calls “terrifying” and “a disgusting form of magic”. If the illustrations for those scenes are a glimpse into his mind, then it’s a mind full of nightmares. During their fight, the rogue Sage Engendil also lampshades how curiously familiar Qifrey seems to be with demons. Qifrey furthermore muses that he knows demons haven’t gone extinct, and in fact are still being created by witches to this day.

The demon in human skin

In short, my opinion is that chapters 68 and 69 together strongly hint at us that Qifrey is, or perceives himself as a demon. Now the question is: what new information would this reveal give us about him, his quest, and the way he has behaved so far?

First, we need to try and actually define what does and doesn’t count as a demon in that universe. Qifrey’s first halting description is “a monster, created with magic and by the hands of a witch”. A distinction is also made between magically altered animals that have adapted to their ecosystems and are useful or at least harmless to humans, and ferocious, uncontrollable beasts. So a demon is a new lifeform, artificially created through magic, that is inherently dangerous. The petty criminal from chapter 49 that got turned into a mindless and violent mass of giant leeches ticks all those boxes. Going by that logic, Coustas and Eunie wouldn’t fall into that category despite not being able to enter the Ezrest castle: modifying some of your body parts, or being turned into an existing animal wouldn’t count. Even Sasaran from the second test doesn’t seem to count as a demon: despite being hybridized with an animal, his consciousness hasn’t been affected and so he can’t be described as an “uncontrollable beast”, just a very heavily modified human.

One other interesting tidbit: “demon” is actually name dropped in chapter 59, a while before Qifrey’s fight with Engendil, when Beldaruit muses that a king who could use magic to gain power over life and death would become a “demon king”, someone capable of creating new lifeforms at will. This ties in the concept of demons to the other themes of the recent volumes, the dilemna of healing magic and resurection magic. What this could imply is that bringing someone back from certain death through magic carries the risk of altering them to the point where they would basically become a new lifeform, which has worrying implications for Dagda.  

Going back to Qifrey though, there are three things we know for sure about him: 1) he has been experimented on with a type of magic never attempted before; 2) he looks and acts perfectly human, and 3) despite this, he is convinced that this new magic is dangerous, and must not only be destroyed but also kept secret at all costs. Finally, we know that those experiments left no visible trace on his body, because the Knights Moralis would have inspected him when they rescued him from the Brimhats (and would have soundly kicked him out of the Great Hall had they found anything). Barring other special characteristics we might not know about, what makes him unique as a demon is that he is undistinguishable from a normal human.

And that’s already more than enough to explain why he is freaking out so much.

What I like about this demon framework is that it can apply to several of the existing theories around Qifrey’s origin: whether he is a rescucitated corpse from Slistas, a silvertree turned human (I am still firmly standing behind that one), or a homonculus created from nothing by the Brimhats. In all three cases, whatever weird symptoms or powers he might have as a result of his creation, the very fact that he cannot be told apart from a human is what makes him truly dangerous. Because it shakes the very foundation of magical society.

We remember the central law of the Pointed Hats: the integrity of the human body is sacred, and therefore magic cast on the human body is taboo. A demon with a human appearance is a mockery of that principle, and a walking dilemna for the Pointed Hats. Demons used to be killed by heroes, and forbidden magical artefacts must be destroyed, but what do you do when that magical artefact is a living, breathing person?

(Speaking of, I have been wondering for a while what the Knights Moralis even do with people who have had spells tattooed on them, and especially those whose bodies have been altered. They can’t let them wander around, even with their memories gone, their very appearance would give the secret away. Do they keep them hidden in some prison or on an island, like the brainwashed witches? Asking for Eunie and Coustas, I’m worried about these kids)

From that perspective, Qifrey’s secrecy makes complete sense. The existence of demons with human faces not only raises all kinds of existential questions, but in the short term it risks making witch society even more repressive than it currently is. The Knights Moralis are already merciless to anyone seen with a tattooed spell or other evidence of having been involved with forbidden magic. Can you imagine how paranoid they would become if they literally couldn’t tell apart a demon from a human? Anyone could be a demon, pretty much.

In particular, this scenario explains why Qifrey is keeping the truth from those who might be tempted to help or protect him. After all, where would it leave Olruggio if he sided with a demon against his own society? Where would it leave Qifrey, if the only solution to erase that dangerous new magic were to destroy himself, but Olruggio wouldn’t let him? It also gives context to his line in chapter 40 “You want me to stay as Professor Qifrey? I would also like that, if it were possible”, and his description of his life at the atelier as something almost like a dream. Professor Qifrey doesn’t exist, and he has no right to live that peaceful life.

Anger and hope

A final bit of character musing I want to add to this: this theory of Qifrey as a demon, and the way he wrestles with that knowledge, also sheds some light on his more erratic actions and mood swings so far. What makes his motivations difficult to follow is that he always seems tugged between two extremes: destructive anger and fervent hope. Both are actually coping strategies that he tries to use to protect himself against paralysing guilt.  

His anger at the Brimhats allows him to redirect his self-disgust towards those who made him. The true demons are those who willingly create monsters, he tells Engendil during their fight. These moments where he faces the Brimhats bring out a very different side of him, one that is confident, indignant and spiteful. Then, rather than being blinded by anger into chasing senseless revenge, he is calling on that anger to steel his resolve. He is using that indignation as a motivator to right a wrong done against both himself and witch society as a whole, even if he has to destroy himself in order to do so.

On the other hand, he seems to hold onto some hope that he might, somehow, erase the magic that created him but still miraculously keep himself alive. That is the side of him that fervently believes in the miracles of magic and in the power of creativity, inspired in him by Beldaruit, and passed along to Coco. His stance seems to be that he needs to dive into the ugly core of those experiments, and that maybe, just maybe, a way to save himself will occur to him just in the nick of time. It’s an interesting coincidence, by the way, that he is staring down the maws of water-dwelling demons while having those thoughts.

And on that note, hold on to indignation and hope when the going gets tough (but don’t brainwash your friends), and thank you for reading!

[phoenixcatch7]

Wild how I never see anyone talking about that moment in the mdzs anime (donghua?) during the wen chaos torture scene, where wwx fights wzl and cores the man like an apple.

Not even that!! Not even that!!! He instantaneously removes a fully intact golden core with the skill and precision of a two day surgery bare handed. In battle.

I don't know if it was part of the book, or if it made it into the live action as well, but it was always a huge moment for me. I mean - he'd just lost his own core in a surgery meant to give someone else it, the volunteer victim taking implanting cores from theory to reality. All those months in the burial mounds were a matter of survival - learn or die. Learn or abandon the last pieces of his family. He mastered demonic cultivation, because there was no other path forward. He had no other option.

But in that moment, he's holding a perfectly intact (decently strong) golden core, just after escaping. He could have tucked it away, got his revenge, and gone back to wq to get it implanted in him. He could have kept it somewhere in stasis for however long while she worked on it, I don't know. He'd clearly developed the ability in the mounds, he'd clearly been thinking about it a lot.

He had that choice. He had the ability to put his demonic cultivation down and rejoin that well paved road, and no one would think twice. He could have rejoined the cultivation world with nary a blip. Lwj and jc would certainly have covered for him, even if they didn't understand.

But he didn't.

He held that little swirling core in his hand, looked at its glow of qi, its shining potential. And crushed it.

That, I've felt, is the true moment he committed to his path. Not in the mounds, not when he decided to hunt down and brutally torture the wen. Not when he decided to sacrifice his own core. That moment where he was granted this potential path out, a way back, a possible escape route. And he turns away.

Breaks it.

I wonder why it's never come up in fics or art or anything. Like, that's just such a visceral moment!! It was like 'oh he's serious serious'. And it has such angsty potential!! Wwx can just destroy the cultivation of anyone he pleases!! During the war everyone was petrified of wzl. There's no reason to think they'd be anything less than mortally terrified of wwx if it ever got out he could do the exact same thing. And he's even stronger! He crushed wzl like an ant!!! But who knows, it could have weird, fringe life saving uses like wq theorised.

But can you imagine all the possibilities!! Core assassin wwx. Chief cultivators husband wwx who gets called in for the worst criminals. Ylp wwx who cores a whole scouting group as a warning, leaving everyone too scared to touch him, letting him and the remnants live in semi peace. Time travel wwx who defangs the worst enemies in disguise, becoming the boogeyman of the jianghu. Lwjs core getting damaged or corrupted and wwx being forced or volunteering to remove it to save his life without subjecting him to the horrific surgery, revealing his secret. There's so many possibilities!!!

[necrotic-nephilim]

-debby ryans at you- how are you feeling about that thunderbolts* trailer, snookums. your old blog is trying to crawl from its grave.

you are an unhinged rat for sending me this ask i hope you know <3 you already knew that but i'm telling you anyway bc you're a rat bc now i have to explain myself-

this is from @eebuckley my partner <3 i've alluded to it in the tags of this blog but i used to be a semi-popular MCU blogger from like 2018 to 2020. (semi-popular for the ship i wrote, anyway) and since like, probably Infinity War/Endgame i have been slowly more and more disillusioned by the MCU ranging from only passively being interested in projects to outright despising them if i saw them. which sort of sucks, given how much i loved the MCU at it's height. i was like. aggressively into it. like a "i had asthma attacks watching trailers bc i got so excited" level of into it. maybe cringey in hindsight, honestly but yk. whatever brings you joy, ig.

and anyway- my partner witnessed my very real and normal reaction to the Thunderbolts* trailer and now i'm *mad* bc i'm actually excited about it. it made me feel about the MCU a way i haven't felt in years, especially after a lot of announcements that rlly pissed me off.

cannot believe it looks like we might actually get a comics-accurate Yelena and a comics-accurate Bucky. i'm such a sucker for Bucky Barnes, he's one of the only Marvel characters i actually read Marve comics for and i'm forever bitter how badly he got screwed over. if that movie is good i'm going to end up writing fanfiction. probably crossover fanfiction bc over my dead body will i write just plain MCU fanfic. and i'm a Jason Todd/Bucky shipper anyway so i could make it work, i think-

anyway TLDR is i'm excited and i'm mad about it and how dare yo expose me for being an MCU fan on THIS blog. you coulda send this ask to my MCU blog that still exists and i have occasionally used. but instead you *exposed* my ass on my refined DC blog as a filthy Marvel fan. i will be divorcing you again. ty gn ily

[hekateinhell]

accidentally took somewhat of a vc fandom break for a while and i come back and it’s almost vamptember lol oops

[cabeswaterdrowned]

something so insane about Adam saying “it wasn’t about you” to Gansey at the end of TRB and then again during the fight in TDT (defensively, angrily when he’s in a spiral of self sabotage) because there’s truth to it but it’s not True. Adam is always always always defining himself in relation to Gansey and yes he resents that but that still makes it About them. The fact that Adam had a dream about being responsible for Gansey’s death and That was the trigger for his decision to wake the ley line, to prevent that future. And to be his own person outside of Gansey while also not hurting/killing Gansey, but then at the same time he brings the gun with him not knowing what he’ll sacrifice but knowing for sure it can not be Gansey. That means it could be Whelk or it could be him (and it is both in a way) and either way he is sacrificing a part of himself for Gansey. And then when Adam does sacrifice a part of his autonomy to Cabeswater Gansey feels betrayed because he sees it as Adam’s sacrifice because belonging to anything else is better than accepting what Gansey tries to offer him but it is For and About Gansey that he did this and Adam Hates that. And then (I just started rereading TRK so I don’t remember the exact details) Cabeswater being in Gansey’s service or having his spirit or however that works makes it even more insane and that definitely adds to the context of Adam’s anger at him in TDT but I’ll come back to that part later just. You love your best friend so much and you hate your best friend so much and it’s not about them but everything is about them!

[xyberangelzparadise]

Anakin is Ahsoka's "father figure" but like in a parentified older sibling kinda way :/

[flufflecat]

Can someone explain what the narrative stakes are even supposed to be anymore in jjk. All the characters are essentially guaranteed to die, the current cast is comprised almost entirely of characters who showed up 2/3rds into the story and we're supposed to care about them for some reason, and I do not even know what the threat is supposed to be anymore. The apocalypse? Destruction of an amorphous innocent society? Like has ANYTHING been shown of "here's the regular world that apparently needs to be saved" or are we just supposed to assume "this society is just Real Life+, so you're REQUIRED to care if some guy threatens to kill all humanity, because one of those humanities may be... a child" or something. Can you spare two seconds to show anything other than some magic randos fighting, or is it just a superhero story all the time now, minus the fun. Remember when yuuji had friends.

[humming-fly]

No see, the fact Ed, Al, and Roy were allowed to leave the room without even that much added supervision is great story telling becuase it shows how cocky the homunculus and father were.

Bradley continously refers to humans as weaker, dumber, and all together inferior to homunculus. So do the other homunculus.

Aka, the homunculus only failed becuase they were too cocky in their plans and ended up fucking themselves over.

this is true but you wanna know what the most horrendous thing is? father very nearly Actually Won because these motherfuckers kEPT COMING BACK LIKE FATHER WAS RIGHT THAT THEY'D GET INVOLVED AND RETURN TO CENTRAL DUDE DIDN'T EVEN HAVE TO BOTHER WITH THE HASSLE OF LOCKING THEM UP THESE IDIOT HUMANS SASHAYED INTO PLACE JUST FINE

literally the ONLY reason father didn't win is because he wasn't keeping a close enough eye on hohenheim which is truly ironic because of all the humans that father Should've been able to predict the movements of it was the one that he was actually friends with at one point in time and knowing arakawa that's some additional level of meta analysis about friendship and trust and manipulation or w/e but really all this to say while the homunculi are idiots the humans they were trying to wrangle really did not do any better

[battle-of-alberta]

How does Ed feel about the other capitals? Does he get along with any of them ?

ahhh it's one of those "left it in the box for Over a Year" asks [slides into press conference of excuses mode]

the reason I had trouble with this one was partially just admitting to myself that I'm never going to personify every city in Canada, it's not my goal, but mostly I wanted something that only featured Ed because other oc creators come and go and sometimes break your heart and I didn't want something featuring someone else's ocs that would age poorly. I do have my own ocs for Whitehorse and Halifax and I have some good friends willing to lend me their ocs for others, so you may have seen them on the blog/s on occasion (and may see them again).

So, I tried to consider the relationships as simply as possible in a way that would be true for any potential oc that came along as kind of a "baseline". I tried to be as general as I could for that reason. I tend to base Ed's feelings off of a combination of personal experience, history, politics, and just general vibes that I get. This might change or become more elaborate depending on the personality of the character in question, of course.

Victoria, for example, is personal for me since my immediate family lives there, so while there is a bit of political and economical tension on one hand, the joke about being mistaken for Calvin is because everyone in Vic immediately assumes anyone from Alberta is from Calgary (and will completely forget even if you tell them repeatedly you're from Edmonton). The territories are personal to a degree too since I was born up there and therefore obsessed with that history from a young age, though I think sometimes Ed has a higher opinion of them than they have of him lol.

[suffarustuffaru]

i just. remembered again that i have a fembaru fic but also the premise is. Very Messed Up hah and also it was written before the canon genderbent au with its official genderbend names for everyone so its also outdated on top of that T^T i had like. Genderqueer subtext going on too. but i also wrote this fic like almost two years ago and havent touched it in forever so im unsure if i should go back to it…. o.o but i would love to finish it one day if only for my own satisfaction hah… i had a very detailed outline for ch 2 (its a twoshot) and several scenes written already anyway!! (and also i would probably update those names, make minor edits, etc etc hmm…)

[sapphire-weapon]

In your opinion, is the laugh from Leon at the end of the Ada and Leon encounter in the castle one of amusement, or more like frustration? People seem to interpret it as him being charmed by her which has lead to some butting of heads. I'm not really sure how to take it myself, but I feel like there's some lingering attachment there mixed with a lot of frustration... y'know, with her whole elusive, never explaining herself thing. Gets a little old for him, maybe.

I know you personally interpret Leon as being done with her shit, but I still wanted to know what you thought!

I think that "charmed" is a good word, but I don't think that people are using it the way that it should be used in that context. Leon isn't "charmed" by her in the sense that he just fell in love with her all over again; Leon is "charmed" by her in the sense that he found that particular interaction endearing.

I've seen people make the argument that Leon didn't actually know that Ada was alive until that very moment of reuniting in the castle, and he's just become so incredibly good at masking his emotions that it catches her off guard -- but I don't agree with that interpretation. For him to be so shocked at Krauser's introduction kind of disproves that theory, because -- remember, Krauser didn't even fake his death in this version of the story. And Leon is still so surprised to see him.

The way I interpreted their reunion was that Leon has seen unconfirmed reports of someone matching Ada's description running around doing shady shit in bioterror situations -- maybe even on missions he's personally run (RE4 was OG Leon's first federal mission but not Remake Leon's first federal mission; he's been doing this shit for a while already) -- so he's already been through the "what the... Ada???? I thought that bitch was fuckin dead!" (kudos to whoever gets that reference) song and dance in his head. But there was no hard and fast evidence that it actually was her -- until she finally tries to hold him up in the castle, and it all clicks into place as "confirmed" for him.

So, I think the smirk/pseudo-laugh following their reunion is born from a few different places:

Leon is genuinely happy to learn that she is, in fact, still alive. Being able to see her and confirm it with his own eyes was probably such a relief for him.

He's probably feeling at least a little bit smug that he was right about the aforementioned reports. So, not only was it relieving to know she's okay, it feels good to find that he was right.

She's not even trying to put up a front for him this time; he actually got to see and talk to the real Ada for perhaps the very first time ever (at least, in his mind; we as the audience know that Ada was being genuine with him at several different points in RE2, but Leon has no way of knowing that, himself). It's probably endearing for him to actually see her as her true self for a change.

The way that she exits the conversation (through the window after a tongue-in-cheek offering of sex??? LMAO) is so extra and over the top and so very Ada. It was very likely a very endearing "some things never change" moment for him.

I genuinely believe that their reunion was a feel-good moment for Leon for all four of those reasons -- and all of that can be true with it also being true that he's not willing to put up with her bullshit anymore.

The two of them don't speak again until the radio transmission where Ada tells Leon that she saw Verdugo carrying Ashley to the throne room. A lot happens between those two points (including "the fall [in love]" moment between him and Ashley, which, when juxtaposed beside the way that he fell for Ada, is striking in its contrast) and a lot of time passes in which Leon can let the enormity of his actual emotions re: seeing Ada again sink in -- and it also happens right after Ashley is taken from him, so that's why he snaps off with "I guess you're not completely heartless" in that conversation. (He's also probably still butthurt about the "leave the girl" remark, too, which only makes his reaction more volatile.)

And that kind of sets the tone for their interactions/relationship for the entire rest of the game. Leon cares about Ada (because lbr he cares about everyone), he's happy and relieved that she's alive and okay, and he's glad to see her again if only just for closure's sake -- but he's done with her shit, otherwise. He has nothing to prove to her anymore, he doesn't need validation from her anymore, whatever romantic attachments he had to her in RE2 are long-since dead, and he refuses to make the same mistakes twice.

All of these things can be true at the same time. And, in RE4make, they are.

[findafight]

Totally with you on a) the defintion of shipping and b) that it would not be narratively satisfying to have the show go in the Will and Mike get together direction, for all the reasons you listed.

The dialogue around it also makes it nearly impossible to find meta or even just discussions around Mike that don't centre the possibility of a romantic relations with Will and it's so frustrating. I love that little guy and I just want to talk about how much he loves his friends!

But then the first thing I created for this fandom was a byler breakup fic so... I'm probably not in the majority.

Anyway keep on trucking and I LOVE Robin and Steve's Epic Platonic Soulmate Mixtape <3

Ah thank you! Yeah. The series is grounded in the friendship the party has. That's the first thing we learn about them. It feels insulting to both the characters and anyone who likes the non romantic aspects of relationships when people insinuate that Will couldn't have a happy ending without dating Mike. (Mike doesn't owe Will a romantic relationship. Will doesn't owe Mike one!! It also feels insulting that people say there's going to be a time skip and I guess Will is still pining for him? Let him let go at that point Sheesh.).

The basis of any romantic relationship, especially in canon, between Will and Mike (or any party members) is a deep and strong friendship. Acting like those aren't as important is so rude to people and mischaracterizes them. Mike Wheeler loves his friends so much he would jump off a cliff for any of them. He would deny their death with the barest shred of illogical proof even when presented with a body. He would try to contact a girl for almost a year to see if she was still alive. He holds his friend's hand when it seems he's fading away, insists on going into danger to help with a distraction, and apologizes better to a friend than his girlfriend. He's a moody, angsty teenager, going through a lot of emotions and confusion, and can be an asshole even to his friends, but my god what are you doing if you deny Mike's platonic relationships mean everything to him.

It's also disregarding Will's relationships too! Like. El is his sister now!! You cannot separate that. Would Will want to date Mike even? Loving and wanting to date are different. Dating a sister's ex? Legit so many arguments are just saying El doesn't love Mike, and I guess implying she wouldn't give a shit if Mike stsrted dating a friend that became a brother who is also the only one as deeply connected to the Upside Down as her. It gives me the vibes of people like...taking away the agency El has in her own feelings and saying she loves Mike.

Maybe he just wants to be able to honest about his feelings. Get them off his chest. Keep his friendship with Mike but have everything out in the open, and they can work through that together. Strengthen their friendship and maybe be open to potentially dating in the future (there is an apocalypse on!) while also strengthening their friendship with El. So many people just. Ignore her and her feelings in all this, as though both Will and Mike have not showed they valued her feelings greatly. Why would that not factor in at all? Why would Will put his sister into that position? Would it not be awkward for Mike too?

That's why it wouldnt be satisfactorily executed in S5. The characters and the audience need time to process any breakup between El and Mike. Let them cool off and us register it. Another anon said if they were going blr canon route they should have ended mlvn in S4, and I agree. It needs Breathing room. Not just them breaking up and a two year time skip where we're told time has passed but for us it feels like nothing, so the impact isn't the same and it doesn't have the same satisfaction of knowing they've worked it out but just being told about it. If that makes sense?

Plus the series has struggled with ending romo relationships, and the only one starting that wasn't awkward or weird (Both Nancy and Jon AND Joyce and Hop have Murray be the catalyst which annoying and kinda lazy, not to mention the cheating) was Lucas and Max. That doesn't paint a picture of confidence in me. Sometimes a ship going canon is not actually good. Sometimes in fandom you are actually thankful a ship that honestly should have been canon by the end, or at least post-series didn't, because whatever the show runners would have done with it would have probably ruined whatever dynamic that made them compelling in the first place. it may feel like a betrayal or rip off at first, and would likely continue to, but with time comes a feeling of oh. Maybe it's better this way... Would come.

So yes. Seeing how people reacted to me simply saying that, by the end of the series, I don't think it could satisfyingly become canon, while prioritizing their relationships with each other, Not a lot of nuance is allowed, it seems. Though I'm sure many shippers are cool and chill, it's really just a few people who are loud about it that try to inhibit discussion or meta, it's a damn shame that the only discussion allowed to those shippers is when or how it will be canon. Where's the fun in that? Everyone can interact with fandom differently, and it's a shame some folks want to dictate how others do so.

[leonardalphachurch]

i REALLY want to actually organize my tagging system one day so i can more easily find stuff but for now i’ve just tagged all of my north posts bc they weren’t too hard to track all of them down and also… im really proud of our north writing lol

[eisenartworks]

The staunchest difference I could think of between webcomic Saitama and manga Saitama when it comes to their relationships is that if you ask webcomic Saitama if he has friends he can't answer but if you ask manga Saitama he'll say yes.

[thebeautifulfantastic]

describing each mcu disney+ tv series in one word:

wandavision: introspective

the falcon and the winter soldier: reconstruction

loki: redemptive

what if: hypothetical

hawkeye: nostalgic

moon knight: revolutionary

ms marvel: joyful

she-hulk: forced