#and they're hating them bc of being a queer ship?

[ssaalexblake]

infants in the cm fandom need to learn what the term queerbaiting means and learn that an actor being all for your gay ship is them being nice to you, and not a concerted marketing strategy by the higher ups to manipulate you into thinking the characters will fuck when they're not going to

last i checked, paget just acts on the show, not anything else, and her wearing a damn jemily shirt means she wore a jemily shirt and enjoys their relationship. It's not a sign.

and the queer women in the show aren't pissed at her because they're not divorced from reality. Or entitled twelve year olds.

Because, genuinely, is she not Allowed to wear show merch? Because it might make some idiot online think that her wearing a shippy shirt is a ~sign~ that it'll become canon and therefore baiting you? I really hate to break it, but she can wear what she wants.

Because you guys are on your way to becoming as utterly deluded as the 911 fandom and by god is that impressive, bc ooof

[cosmicpoutine]

leaving a lil rant here :]

I love Tim and his ships sm. Me personally, I only really ship TimKon. Those two are perfect for eachother and have so much clear queer coding that it’s crazy, and they have dialogue that’s just. gay shaped.

I also get TimBart, I don’t ship it romantically but I get why people do!! Tim and Bart are close as well, and the balance they get between ‘depressed tired wet cat’ and ‘living breathing embodiment of adhd’ is great.

I also get TimBartKon, they’re a trio. They are always a trio, so many people like to bring up how TimKon has so much coding and one of the big examples they use is when Tim tried to clone Kon. You know who else he tried to clone? Bart.

The only Tim ship I don’t get is TimBern, or any ship involving those two. When Bernard first appears, he’s Tim’s bully. He actively makes fun of tim and puts him down and then that character is forgotten about until Tim comes out as bi, then they just rework his character and go “haha guys this is his boyfriend not bully ygs are crazy” and just forget about all the bad stuff Bernard did? Reworking a character is great and all but, it just feels a bit weird and out of place for me. There’s always going to be that certain toxicity for TimBern, at least for me.

homie... bully??? im flabbergasted- im speechless- im jason todd (dead)

okay, im gonna start off by saying you have all the right to not ship them, and im not here to defend timbern as a ship. im here to defend BERNARD DOWD.

first thing bernard does is give tim advice about teachers, and he clearly says they're gonna be good friends.

if bernard was a bully, tim wouldn't hang around him so much. besides, i hate it when people place tim as a helpless little boy who would get bullied. he has put himself in situations where he looks weak on purpose to keep his identity safe, but he's not a victim at all. tim is a social butterfly because he's really good at masking and reading people.

not to mention, both bernard and darla push tim a lot because they're trying to get him to open up and be closer to them, but he keeps pushing them away. tim is a professional liar.

and when tim has to quit robin and start hanging out with normal people, he invites bernard over.

and bernard is acting relatively normal, and he wants to play video games and talk about how hot tim's stepmom is.

bernard is a normal teenager who has no idea one of his friends is the hero he's so obsessed with. he even shows concern for robin dying and makes up an entire conspiracy theory about batman havin a robin orphanage. you can tell he's afraid of robin being gone for real because at this point they haven't seen robin in months bc tim retired.

i dont know what about all of these interactions gave you the vibe that he's a bully because all i see is a normal teenager teasing his friends and being jealous tim gets more bitches.

im not saying that bernard was never mean or weird around tim, but he definitely wasn't actively bullying tim.

bernard is obnoxious and cocky, yes. but thats just because they wrote him as a real person. he's the school's chameleon, maybe even a little bit of a loser, too. he knows everyone but keeps a safe distance so that he doesn't get pushed into a box. im not sure if, at this point, he was already in a cult or being indoctrinated, but when we see his parents and the dowd home in tim drake: robin that just doesn't look right.

also homie talk about "forgetting all the bad things bernard did" (which in my opinion is none but okay lets follow that logic) everyone forget about all the bad things batman did to tim, he was not a kind and loving mentor, he was cruel to both tim and steph. we forget that batman was kind of an asshole to damien in the beginning. all those things are forgotten for the sake of the batfam.

in conclusion: we're just so used to the idea that superheroes can only ever form strong friendship bonds by having near death experiences together that we forget that the secret identifies exist and that the people who know them by their legal name also means a lot to them. after all, these people are the reason why they're heroes.

[roboj0e]

You know what makes antis conservative outside of their stances on fiction even when they aren't harassing ppl. Its their treatment of ppl who like darkships/dark themes as if that's their whole personality and it's somehow going to infect them if they are friends/interact with them. It falls in lines with religious beliefs that being around "sinners" will make you one. The way conservative believe that the presence of queerness is infectious and therein dangerous. It's the same line of reasoning. The same ideology. You ppl are radical conservative hiding behind progressive words. Dnis are 100 percent dogwhistles. Proshippers have generally adopted them for safety. Antis do it to tell other antis they are part of the "good moral side" but they're ultimately useless for everyone anyways.

You can be friends with ppl who like weird or gross shit and never have to be subjected to it. I have friends who are extremely vanilla and yet they're surprisingly comfortable with me talking about my weird shit if I want to. I have friends who are uncomfortable with it and I respect their boundaries and we bond and talk about other things.

Darkshippers arent infectous they're allowed to be multifaceted HUMANS and like things and are able to like things outside of dark fiction. They can like vanilla themes or talk about a ship it in a way that isn't uncomfortable to other ppl. They know how to respect boundaries you can be friends with them without liking their ships or interests in fiction. And I'm sick of the thinking that to make internet friends you have to be exactly like another person or that they're very presence of things that make you uncomfortable especially as it pertains to fiction and sexual fantasies are dangerous to you. Having similar interests gets the ball rolling but it's not the only thing ever to become friends with someone over.

I'm definitely not saying ppl need to go out of their way to interact with accounts that make them uncomfortable ofc not. But acting like interacting with someone is inherently uncomfortable bc you refuse to separate them from their fictional interest says more about you than it does them tbh.

"it makes me uncomfortable that you have gay sex I don't want to be friends with you anymore" now replace it with any dark fictional theme. How does that sound to you? What does their interests in fictional dynamics/kinks have to do with you? How does it harm you if you aren't subjected to it? Why do ppl think they should be privy to someone kinks to make sure they're moral enough to be friends with?

I've seen proshippers do this too btw no one is exempt from subscribing to dangerous ideology.

Very confusing to me tbh. I talk to ppl who like dynamics and ships I don't like all the time. I ignore what I don't like and bond over what we do.

You like one piece? cool! ew u like zosan? Hate that ship let's talk about how great whole cake island is tho. Oh u like hanigram? Me too! Oh u like wound fucking I don't but I'm not uncomfortable by it lets hold hands and kiss. Easy peasy.

[squeakyleftsneaker]

You survived, gj🫡✨️ Thoroughly enjoyed your descent into hell. Once again, just straight up ignore the fandom (even this message if needs be). Fandom is not what it used to be thanks to the hell shippers of this fandom, particularly the kl*ncers. The Lance stans are insufferable, and their hatred of any ship that isn't KL is well known. It's thanks to them that any ship in general they Personally Do Not Like gets labeled Literal Pedophilia/Basically Incest. Watching Voltron in its heyday was exhausting. Their hatred of Shiro and Allura are well documented, shoving them into Space Dad and Space Mom roles. They hated how close he was to Keith and would spam LOVE THOSE bROTheRs on every social media site to make people who never watched believe they were actually related and have that gutjerk reaction of disgust. They made a whole ass fuss over Adam because he was their ticket for getting Shiro out of the picture. That fuss is partially what led S8 to being delayed and rewritten, and the entire reason for that shit epilogue wedding. They celebrated Allura dying so Lance could be with his ~One True Love~ a heavily fanonized Keith to go with their langsty altean prince true black paladin bisexual king self insert.

SO I let this sit in my inbox for a lot longer than I care to admit. Mostly because I at the time didn't have a great picture for how this all played out, and to be honest I still don't.

I did kind of want to discuss this just bc I was having a somewhat related discussion about a totally different work of fiction (one I may talk about later on here though I am still not quite sure what to do with this blog) and It got me thinking about this message again. Now that I've read the whole dissertation about it, I am kind of intrigued by the mechanisms by which Klance as a ship became so popular.

This may have been the fact that I basically inhaled the whole show over the course of a month, but I never actually picked up on a significant focus on Lance and Keith's relationship in text, though I've been made aware that some of the marketing for the show did lean into it.

This is, however, not super related to what I did want to talk about which is more related to shipping and how we read fiction and interact with it in fandom. I don't think I'm UNIQUE in these observations, no observation ever is, but I do think that having now gotten a slightly better idea of what the show was (and wasn't) I feel comfortable at least getting a sanity check on it.

I, on a personal level, completely understand how someone, in particular someone young, would feel suspicious and RIGHTFULLY uncomfortable with a relationship between two adults with a large age gap who met when one of them WAS a young teenager. That is, IRL, a pretty clear red flag. I get it. I really do. I don't think you, if you're a teenager yourself, should "get over" that feeling of discomfort.

With that being said, I think it's also possible to see why other people in the fandom are, rightfully as well, very suspicious of a group of people who say they're endorsing pedophilia or incest. It's not NEW in queer spaces. It's, in fact, pretty much what ALL queer spaces and queer people put up with. That's what so much anti-queer language and extremely homophobic tradition uses as a bludgeon to devalue queer relationships, queer stories, queer spaces.

Particularly in media, queer stories that weren't allowed to just be queer in and of themselves have historically OFTEN been rejected through the lens of "they're like siblings" or "but it's such a huge age gap," and I think that it is an unintentional, but still real, reinforcement of that language and that policing of morality in fandom that have in general been used to denigrate queer people and queer people desiring to see themselves in media, to be represented, and to take works of fiction that are emotionally significant to them and read themselves into them.

So, yeah. Idk. I can see how particularly young people would be uncomfortable on a personal level with the idea of shipping Shiro with Keith or like. Any paladin. I get that. But I also totally and completely get how that same language and rhetoric around pedophilia and incest being applied to a canonically queer character is like. Very much reminiscent and rooted in a lot of homophobia within fandom. These are in tension with each other.

It is also true that there is a tension in that Shiro and Allura are both very much not white (yay), Shiro is our main character that is canonically queer, and to reduce them to "Space Mom," and "Space Dad," relegating them to non-romantic, background roles feels a little disappointing! Even if that's not the intended effect!

Perhaps more importantly though, they're not rooted in the text itself (which is where we get to the later part of this ask). I don't know a lot about Lance fans as a Culture [TM}, and I will probably not be entirely incorrect in saying that there's all kinds of flavors of insufferable fans (I am one myself), but I do think that this sort of thing naturally arises in a text that doesn't have a whole lot to interpret.

I've written before that Voltron lacks depth. Which means that if you're a fan, if you want to interact with the text, if you want to really discuss the characters, you run out of textual material very quickly. You have to read stuff into it. You HAVE to do a healthy amount of DIY characterization. And Lance is a very natural character to do this with because he IS our point of view character very loosely (though the show does a poor job with this). So I get how that arises, I get how the show itself encourages ~fanon~ over canon because there's so little in canon to talk about.

Sure, in canon for the first 2 seasons and in season 6, the relationship between Keith and Shiro is pretty narratively central. But the writers also totally drop it for ages on end and fail to explore it. I don't feel uncomfortable saying that pretty much every potential ship in the show requires a very substantial amount of eisegesis.

No ship is more textually supported romantically than the others. Not even really the only canon one between paladins, because Lance and Allura have very little reason to be together (deep sigh. Oh writers, oh writers what am I to do with this).

It's very natural for fandom to do fandom things. That's totally fine imo. But I think it's always worth remembering when interacting with others that fanon is. Not textual. You're playing in a sandbox, not doing sand castle archaeology. HOWEVER when showrunners and marketing teams interact with fandom, they reinforce the idea that fandom should influence canon. Choose your own adventure, but for a work of fiction. This is. Something that impacts pretty much all long-running works of fiction. Even if an author doesn't intend for it to happen, if you see it you're impacted by it. It's an inevitability of serialized works. You can see the fingerprints of "Give The People What They Want" all over later iterations of Star Wars.

Ultimately I think Voltron ended up as a perfect petri dish medium for The People [TM] to get what they wanted. Because there was very little in way of canon, because of the compressed timeline of production meaning that there wasn't a lot of time to THINK, and because they kept feeding into it.

But it's still fiction! It's always important to remember that fiction is, and always will be, NOT REAL! You can explore things in fiction that aren't possible in real life. Shiro and Keith or Keith and Lance or Lance and Allura or Shiro and Adam or Shiro and his rando husband who I'm sure he divorced in like a year all could've worked in some alternate reality (not to Slav it up) where the writing had had teeth and substance. And if exploring those hypotheticals makes you personally uncomfortable I get that! I don't read fanfiction (dear reader I am lazy) but if I did I would ESPECIALLY avoid reading Zuko/Katara fics because I feel really uncomfortable with the power dynamic of colonialism present there. That SAID, I don't think that that's a ship that shouldn't exist.

I don't think that shipping that, that wanting to explore that, that being curious about how that could've played out is BAD. It rarely is. And shutting out people looking to explore those dynamics is a great way to breed resentment, and a great way to reinforce the rhetoric of people who want nothing more than to shut Those Freaks up. Be wary of the language you use. Do not echo the language of homophobes. Particularly when it comes to your textual interpretation of a work with ultimately SUPREMELY LITTLE interpersonal depth.

Therefore I SHALL be writing a 500,000 word Shiro/Slav fic because you know what character DOES pull the drama out of Shiro? THAT'S RIGHT BABY! Because I need to be exceedingly clear here duh and obviously I am not gonna write that shit I am nowhere near funny enough for that

It's all made up, dawg! What you make up does matter, but how you handle it matters just as much, if not more! Voltron accidentally created a pro-colonial clusterfuck where none of the characters really know each other, but I'm sure you can see how the same exact elements of the show could've done something genuinely interesting and unique!

Fiction is, at its core, a place to explore things that aren't real. You can have some things that make you uncomfortable, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they are fundamentally immoral. And I would caution greatly against shutting down exploration and creativity.

[afurtivecake]

hate that kevriko is a rarepair, i really feel like so many of their interactions are so juicy and full of worthwhile discussions that for some reason nobody wants to indulge

i def think that rikos anger at jean was less bc of him LOOKING at kevin and more so that he was looking at KEVIN

anyway if you have thoughts and feelings to share, pls do

thank you for this ask<3 also you're so right. we don't talk about kevriko as a ship enough when there's a lot to think about there. (i am guilty of this too)

the interesting thing about kevriko is that they're almost exactly like the kind queerbaiting couple you'd have seen in late 2000's media. (1) there were so many shows with characters that had an undeniably deep and intimate connection with each other that was also really fucked-up and we, the audience, were expected to believe these were the actions of fully heterosexual men who, at best, hated each other. yeah, that's what nora has effectively created with kevriko.

i'm not saying kevriko is intentional queerbaiting; i just mean the ambiguous and open-ended nature of their relationship lends itself well to speculations about what they really felt for each other.

i'm guessing people don't ship kevriko much because it is very much a toxic and abusive relationship made worse by the horrible environment they were living in. i think there is a lot of reluctance to engage with the topic of textual abusive queer relationships. i think people are drawn to the idea of nice, healthy, wholesome queer relationships in media and shy away from ships that can't fit into that mold. which is interesting because that's not at all different from how the general public treated people who shipped those kinds of canonically straight characters with antagonistic, homoerotic relationships back then. there was always this sense of like, "why would you want to ship that when there are all these other better ships available?" why would you want to imagine a gay relationship when it's so bad and toxic when there are other more socially acceptable ships available? only real difference is that, back then "socially acceptable" strongly meant "straight". i guess what i'm saying is that it feels like people would rather kevin and riko be straight and not at all emotionally attached because that would make their relationship straightforward and palatable. it would frame them as captor and prisoner longing for escape, rather than something horrible and ugly and uncomfortably involved.

but ok let's just talk about the elephant in the room: was riko obsessively in love with kevin and repressing it?

yeah. probably. yes. in tgr, it's pretty clear that riko was insanely possessive of kevin and responded jealously whenever another man dared to get close to kevin. "but was it love?" i hear people ask. or was it selfishness, obsession, and codependency? does it really matter what you call it? it amounts to the same thing in the end.

if we can accept that andreil's relationship doesn't fit into the traditional mold of "romantic relationship" but is still intimate and loving nonetheless, then we should be able to accept that kevriko doesn't fit into the traditional mold of "abusive romantic relationship" but is nonetheless, built around emotional involvement and intimate partner abuse.

lots of works show these same aspects of an abusive relationship, but what aftg does that feels different is that it puts focus on the "relationship" aspect. simply put, aftg doesn't try to eliminate the emotional attachment kevin and riko have to each other in order paint a more stark line between victim and abuser as if attempting to signal to the audience the writer knows this relationship is Bad and Irredeemable. aftg acknowledges that being in an abusive relationship requires a heavy emotional investment on both sides.

it took emotional investment for riko to hold kevin that close and it took emotional investment for kevin to choose to stay for as long as he did. yes, there is also an element of one party having the power to enforce a relationship on their terms. but if it were as simple as seeing the power balance imbalance and thinking, "i don't have to put up with this shit anymore!" like an employee quitting their shitty job and shitty boss, then beating riko and the ravens in the finals would have fixed kevin. and we can see in tgr that it very much has not. there isn't an absence of feeling in abusive relationships. there isn't an absence of desire to be together. that's what makes extricating oneself from the them so hard.

riko was undoubtedly deeply attached to kevin and built all his future dreams around the idea that kevin would be at his side exactly where he wants him to be. he could not let go of kevin even after kevin left and he continued to act as if kevin was going to come back to him as soon as he destroyed the foxes and everything would be back on track. in a similar way, kevin has trouble letting go of riko after riko dies. we see him in tgr still pursuing excellence (exy-llence?) and fixating hard on the dream of playing in the olympics as if he's determined to carry him and riko's dream to the finish line on his own - to prove that he could do what riko could never could, alone. denying the awful emotional aspect of kevin and riko's relationship ignores the fact that being together fucked them up and that kevin is still left trying to disentangle himself from that mess.

(1) the example that springs to mind is Heroes. does anyone remember the show Heroes? sylar/mohinder, you'll always be famous to me. basically, sylar is a serial killer who is able to steal the superpower of the people he kills and mohinder is the researcher studying superpowers and this serial killer. there's one insane scene where sylar calls mohinder in distress and says shakily, "i think i did something bad," and mohinder, without missing a beat, shoots back, "you're a serial killer; you don't get the benefit of the doubt." and then there's a bit of back and forth where sylar is pleading with mohinder to just help him somehow because mohinder is the only one he can trust. and we were supposed to believe those two were heterosexual men who did not like each other at all. yeah that's how bad queerbaiting was back then.

[doueverwonder]

okay you've gotten me hooked on the military branches in WTTT, I'm seriously considering making designs for them all now 😭

in the meantime tho

Do you have any headcanons for Marines? Would he be friends with any of the states? (Maybe Texas? Idk he was my first thought)

Also him crying about a box of limited edition crayons in the other post u made is AMAZING and so so real 🙏

if you are considering making designs for them i offer my faceclaims for them as basis maybe 👀

okay so, i don't particularly think the branches are markedly close with any of the states or even Gov tbh (minus Nash obviously). They're busy and all over the place, including regularly outside of the country, they speak way more often with other federal personifications. Think the way CDC comes around sometimes but we all know he's gotta have other stuff going on behind the scenes, (the branches main points of contact are IDC, Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs.)

That's not to say they don't/can't/won't get to know or hang around the states its just kinda far and in between stuff. and they DO tend to know the states that have spent extended periods of time in the military better than others (all states have probably been in/heavily involved in the military at some point some just made it a whole thing while others did what they had to and got out). (like obsessed with @and-the-flame-burns NY was in the navy hc and think bc of that NY and Navy are somewhat closer than Navy would be with the average state)

okay I'm done, that was a rant, onto Marines HC :)

I could see Texas and Marines being friends but its probably less of a traditional friendship and more,,, picking on each other (tx was/is in the army), pissing contests, and a healthy dose of mutual respect. Kinda guy you could go out for a beer with and have a good conversation, but not the person you're going to call first for anything y'know.

so obv u can see my faceclaim but ALSO Marines in my head is based off one of my dads clients who was a marine and hated carrying around the battering ram so he learned how to knock down doors without it then convinced his commander to let him leave the ram behind; he agreed on the condition that they better never come across a door he can't open. and they never did. his entire 12 yrs in the Marine Corps there was never a door stronger than him. that is to illustrate when I say Marines is big and intimidating I mean it.

stereotypes ik but he is,,, not the brightest crayon in the box. Which he's not a total idiot, so much as he just doesn't think shit through entirely before doing them, he's a man of action not thought.

He's Gay thank you for your time.

(Only attracted to men but got through 240 years of queer people not being allowed in the military just fine, while Navy's bi ass was STRUGGLING despite having dated multiple women (he's got a girl in every port ;))

speaking of Navy, codependent motherfuckers. The loui and flo of the branches. are they dating. are they best friends. will they die if they're separated for more than 20 min. maybe. they sure acted like it when it got out there would no longer be marine detachments on most navy ships. coast is praying he never ends up in the DOD under the dept of the navy bc he is NOT getting stuck between these two.

(also this post by @floridagirlboy is canon to me)

"do i even weigh anything to you" "no, its like holding a couple of grapes" is Marines with Air and Space Force

(Dept of Defense walking into the meeting and seeing them sitting on his shoulders: Air, Space, you have planes and satellites if you want to see from up high. Stop asking Marines to pick you up.)

uhh that's all I think.

Those crayons are his prized possession bc Space Force is little and new and has a whole lot of stuff to figure out and YET she still remembered his birthday and got him something. cuteness aggression like never seen before incoming/j

[just-some-sorta-person]

Can I ask, who are your top 7 favorite romantic relationship's couples in books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series/etc (can be canon or non-canon) and your top 10 favorite characters ever from any media? Why do you love them all? Thanks if you want to answer....

Sure!

Ships (in rough order)

Nagireo from Blue Lock

my current obsession, going on strong for like more than a year by now. Also the first ship where I actually interacted with fandom meaningfully for a prolonged people of time instead of mostly ghosting. They’re really special to me! I think something I like about them is how core their relationship is to their story, and exploring their characters. It makes fan content and AUs really interesting and fun. In my opinion, a lot of their issues would still exist without blue lock, and they’d have to work them out in any setting, and I think that’s neat.

Satosugu From Jujutsu Kaisen

my past obsession, I spent a great deal of time with them as well before moving on to nagireo. Something I think of when it comes to stsg is the idea of an unfulfilled love that’s not lesser or weaker by virtue of being unfulfilled. I really like the idea that Gojo’s last words to geto were “I love you”, said for the first time at the end for this reason. Well, I am an angst enjoyer. I also enjoy the concept of love not being enough. Gojo and Geto’s individual relationship to power and agency is pretty cool to dive into too, the roles they had to fill in society and such. Their diverging paths. A good ship can’t be made with bad/uninteresting characters after all and I like all the character study fics out there.

those're kinda the two big ones.

Yuudai X Taisei from Sakana

Read sakana here right this moment its very special to me

Ah yes the awkwardness of drunk kissing your coworkers bestie that you're certain is way too good for you. I love love love them so much. They're just very comforting to me. Anxious eel and silly octopus (all of the cast of characters have assigned aquatic organisms). The comic as a whole deals a lot with anxiety, which is really cathartic, but I think in general its really nice seeing Yuudai opening up to people. I also like Yuudai's pessimism and skittery abrasive personality being balanced out by Taisei's optimism and cheerfulness. They also just make for some funny interactions that I've really liked reading heheh

Vanoe from Vanitas no Carte-

It’s the great gatsby vibes, the sunshine character and the deeply traumatized character who doesn’t see themselves as lovable, etc. I really love them and may or may not have made a slide deck presentation on Vanitas no carte for powerpoint night with my friends and 1/3 of it was centered around them.

Ludovica X Luck from Tiger Tiger-

Since this isn't an anime/is probably more obscure, here's the link to Tiger Tiger! Independently published by the artist and free to read, though you can also buy the first book to read in bookstores and such. I genuinely recommend it so much.

Ludovica and Luck are just so funny together, I love them so much. It's an eldritch doomsday god and the hyperfixated-on-sea-sponges mad scientist said being wants to impress. what is there not to like? its chaos x chaos but 2 different flavors. Also the source material is great, and very queer. #stealing your brother's ship to study sea sponges and getting caught up in doomsday. Also him and his 2nd mate are in love but dont realize bc reasons. Its great.

Bachirin from Blue Lock-

grumpy x sunshine always gets me. Plus their parallels and the whole loneliness thing. It’s a great ship- though what really sold me was reading fics like The Sun Will Come up. They really have so much potential.

Kide X Coel from Project Novos

another comic free to read here except this one has.. been on hiatus since 2022.. cries. I think the author has mentioned getting back to it though. Project Novos fulfills my childhood friends to enemies that dont actually hate each other to lovers dreams. The plot follows a government conspiracy and uprising but the story centers around Coel and Kide's relationship, which I do expect to be carried out romantically despite not being explicit so far (in part because it is not a mainstream manga).

This too, also follows the more optimistic character x a more pessimistic traumatized character trope... I have a type ok

... the ship list kinda turned into a bit of a rec list, but with some exceptions, my enjoyment of a relationship tends to do a lot with my enjoyment of the story its in unless I get fixated so...

hmm other ships ive liked... narumi x hirotaka from wotakoi.. hualian from tgcf, bingqui from svsss.... wait actually, there's too many lets move on.

Characters

Let's limit it to one character per show/series/etc to make this easier and avoid me just being like "the whole cast of sakana" or "the whole cast of tiger tiger" or "These characters from Dungeonmeshi..." too many options...

this is in no particular order. Also you might notice a lot of these characters come from the ships above

Yuudai Tanaka from Sakana

I like seeing characters suffer from anxiety, especially in a more ugly way, because I suffer from anxiety, and while I'm a lot nicer than Yuudai, I get frustrated when anxiety is portrayed in a way that may seem "cute" because it really doesn't feel "cute" hahaha. I mean, being anxious can mean being shy sometimes, which I can understand finding cute, but it can also mean being avoidant, skittish, or less friendly.

Ludovica Bonnaire from Tiger Tiger

She's chaotic, she's sweet, she's adorable, she's remarkably intelligent, she's fixated on sea sponges and wants to learn more about them! I really love Ludovica. She feels really refreshing as a character- a woman of science who's bubbly, excitable, and chaotic. She's kind of naive, but not at all dumb or incompetent. She falls into the mad scientist category without it defining her character. She doesn't let anything stop her but isn't somehow perfect, and she's incredibly funny. She's just great!

Nagi Seishiro from Blue Lock

Just.. look at him. he has a cactus, that's like plus 20 points

I have a soft spot for characters that are more subtly lacking in life and struggling, but aren't conscious of it. Also characters that discover that there's more to life than they first thought. Nagi seems fine on the outside, but if you look at some of his habits, they're actually rather concerning - subsisting off jelly packets, thinking life is a pain, getting a cactus to practice talking to people because he hadn't TALKED in so long. One of the nicest/most meaningful things his parents said to him that made him happy being "Don't die".. I also enjoy his disconnect from other people, and how he doesn't really understand the world around him.

I also like the space he occupies within the blue lock canon as a “hidden path”, and the contrast he presents in comparison to the other characters. I think Nagi is made more interesting by being a side character to Blue Lock than if he was the true main character. Idk if that’s a controversial take to have about your fav haha but really I think being the main character of a spinoff is the best place he could be. His situationship with the most important person in his life that he met 6 months ago is great too.

Greed from Fullmetal Alchemist

I LOVE the concept of the friendship is magic character being greed itself. I like the idea of interpersonal love being related to greed. Greed is wanting things, and it is often villainized, but wanting things is the basis of so much more than what we usually associate with greed - and in fact, some of our deepest wants are related to love - in all the forms it takes. Anyways, Greed is very special to me.

Vanitas from Vanitas no Carte

I just love a character who hates themselves so much that they won't let themselves be loved, but they don't have a gloomy exterior to reflect that (making it harder to tell).

Geto Suguru from Jujutsu Kaisen

I think I just love a guy who put so much pressure on himself to torture himself doing the right thing that he crashed out and did all the bad things. I see it as kind of the downfalls of needing everything to be simple and solvable. Geto preserved his sense of control and the livability of his own life, at the expense of becoming a bad person. That's something to explore, to me.

Him being gay (for his bff) is also a plus

Hirotaka Nifuji from Wotakoi

I have a tendency to like characters I find relatable. I haven't watched Wotakoi in awhile but I remember really resonating with Hirotaka. Because I haven't rewatched in awhile it's kinda just a vibe rn tho haha I can't really explain it.. But maybe it has something to do with the muted/quieter way he tends to express himself, despite still having his own inner world.

Anya Forger from Spy Family

I don't really relate to Anya at all, and I don't have any complicated reasons for this. She's just a cutie patootie who deserves the world

Laios Touden from Dungeon meshi

I love Laios and its definitely because I find him relatable. His difficulty connecting with people, his fixation on monsters, his appreciation of food... And I really like how his difficulty connecting with people and him being a weirdo is paired with a genuine desire to connect with them, and do good, as well as leadership skill.

I wanna eat living armor too...

Mafuyu Sato from Given

Given actually got me through a really hard time at one point, so its really special to me. Mafuyu's journey in general is very special to me, especially as someone who has had trouble expressing/processing their feelings before too.

[getsuuna]

ok so here's my complaint of the day!

I wrote this during the moment I felt like complaining and I was sleepy so it MIGHT be a little dramatic 😇

every time I'm devouring a SaneGiyuu fic because I like its plot for a while, here goes a smut scene that never fails to make me sigh and mayhaps roll my eyes

most of the times I know I'll get icked but decide to read because "what if it's not that bad",, then it's almost always the same shit over and over: Sanemi topping, bonus points if there's even just slight roughness (yikes😬...), Giyuu being loud and being described in degrading terms [and basically none of this was told beforehand in tags nor notes, almost as if it was the "normal" perception of SaneGiyuu for most people...??? shut UP??😃]

respectfully, it's ass.

I'm tired, these tropes are overused and fucking inaccurate dare I say, unless there's a reason in the fanfic's AU specifically but I still find it to be too common and weird. if you want a somewhat accurate SaneGiyuu pay gorn (/hj /ref) it must be them switching AND being romantic. where the FUCK is the romance,, the last one I've read now wasn't that bad because it still mentioned adoration, kisses and love overall, but there's almost always something that icks me even just in the few fics I've read so far, and it makes my reading experience sm slower and uncomfortable afterwards even if I initially loved the fic

now, as I've stated multiple times, I hate the "rough daddy dom Sanemi" and "submissive twink Giyuu" headcanons with every single inch of my entire being in&out including my whole soul /drm,,, and not just in sex scenes but in their overall dynamic, it's so enraging I don't care if someone disagrees I'd just stare and judge??😭😭😭my main purpose when I complain abt this stuff is to look for other people with my same mindset (thank GOD I saw lots of them so far though)

the disrespect, and the fetishization of queer couples in which one "has to look/act more like the opposite gender" and inevitably the one who has more apparent feminine traits has to be the sub, bc they associate femininity with submissiveness. heteronormativity and borderline patriarchy-inducted stereotypes?? woah./neg

let Sanemi receive, it won't make him any less of a man nor threaten his masculinity I promise🥺 same goes for Giyuu if he was actually written like the manly strong man and SOLDIER he fucking is? I still wouldn't really really prefer it but I would respect the preference in that case.. heated arguments about who tops or bottoms are inherently fetishizing and stupid, however if I see a (weird) pattern I'm gonna hate it sorry not sorry😭🙏🏻

also please if someone can recommend SaneGiyuu fics with NO smut or actually well written sex scenes with them preferably switching (it's the only actual realistic trope and I stand by this fact) I'll be thankful, and I'm taking the occasion to also recommend "You And Me, Alone Together" by Katz3 (yes there's also occasional sex scenes and yes they're perfect in every possible way, the whole fic is!! I have yet to find a better fic and I know I won't, despite it being underrated); or maybe if you have fic recs in which Giyuu exclusively tops if there's NSFW scenes, out of nothing but pure spite, I would be thankful as well🥰

one last thing bc I usually get heavily misinterpreted whenever I complain abt anything: I'm NOT saying "GiyuSane is better" (even if that's what *I* personally think, due to how I interpret their writing and how I headcanon their relationship dynamic which has nothing much different from most, I just don't twinkify/overly-feminize/infantilize Giyuu nor I over-sexualize/booktok-fy Sanemi), I'm just saying it's more realistic if they switched: it's more accurate, more inclusive, less mischaracterizing, less stereotyped and therefore less heteronormative and less fetishizing...

and about the degrading and roughness and all that I mentioned, I just despise it. for every ship and every trope, whether m/f, f/f or m/m. it takes romance away imo and I won't be sugarcoating it with "oh but it's consensual so it's fine" nor negotiating it in order not to piss off the people who like this kind of content; I'm sorry, keep your preferences, but I won't be shutting the fuck up if I have to read it every goddamn time I naively think there's normal and loving sex scenes. put tags to warn readers who don't wanna read that shit so they can skip it if they still gave the fic a shot, please🙏🏻

[angelshizuka]

Hey! I notice you talk a lot about the discourse in the hellaverse fandom and i really like your explanations so i wanted to ask for your opinion on something?

Do you also get frustrated by how many people act like viv is responsibly for every single shortcoming of the hellaverse? It’s like nothing can even be slightly flawed without it being her fault somehow.

People act like she’s the sole writer for both shows and that whenever there’s a flaw, it’s her fault. There are multiple writers but i have ONLY ever seen criticism on her. Weird

When people dislike the merch, it’s her fault, when there’s complications with shipping merch it’s her fault, when something weird happens with fans it’s her fault, etc etc.

Queer women cannot exist on the internet without scrutiny. And i know what people are gonna say, they’re gonna list out every weird thing she’s ever done in the past and then tell me how it’s actually okay to harass people involved in the hellaverse because of this.

Regarding her past actions, i mean i just dont really think about it when i watch either show? Im not a twitter user, never will be again, so i dont even see half of any new drama. I just really dont care. maybe she’s been unprofessional before i can admit that but people have gone a bit too far. Im not gonna anon this ask bc frankly i couldnt care less if someone wants to yell at me it’s not that serious ill just log off

I cannot stand the Viv hate, because literally all arguments I've seen against her all fall under either one of these three categories: 1. mistakes she's made in the past but has learned from, 2. painfully obviously fake "evidence" and 3. things she didn't even do/had no control over (because like you said she's not the only one working on these shows).

An example for one of the most recent dramas with the Valentine's merch, I've legit seen haters attack Viv for FANART of the merch, thinking it was official merch. Aka, they just keep proving over and over again how quickly they are to blindly believe anything as long as it supports their "agenda". And Viv also had to clarify she wanted Angel included, but didn't have the final say, yet Viv is the only one getting attacked for Angel being absent.

Like, obviously I don't expect everyone to like her as a person, because sometimes we just don't vibe with people even if you like their work (though, most Viv haters use hating her work as an excuse to personally hate her, too). But it's the arguments people use on "why" that make it impossible for me to take them seriously, because so much of it just comes down to (internalized) misogyny and queerphobia. On top of her being a queer women in a still mainly male dominated industry, so she's an "easier" target.

Honestly, her female and queer characters being "impure/imperfect" is literally part of why I love them so much, they're human (well, demons) first and women and/or queer second. That's usually how you write the best characters, because when you write the woman/queer part first, so many writers fall into the trap of making them "pure/perfect" and THAT is how you dehumanize us.

And, sorry not sorry, but I'd rather vibe with a creator who's openly pro-trans rights, pro-LGBTQ+ rights in general, pro-women rights, anti-Trump, ect. (she shares those kinda things basially daily on her Instagram stories) than listen to anything these haters cry about.

Speaking of the trans thing, it says a lot about these haters that they'd rather believe fake "evidence" of her being transphobic than the words directly from a trans person's mouth (Morgana, aka Sallie May) who's friends with Viv and has to constantrly keep reminding people how supportive she is of trans rights.

[bossthebicon]

the fucking hypocrisy that gl fans have tho, when geminifourth got announced to be in 23.5 everyone and their fcking mother was hating on them, tagging them to get out of the show and calling them ugly and shit like that, and now that there is gonna be a bl side pair everyone suddenly silent and like nothing happened, side eye.

I mean... I didn't see this unfurl so I won't comment much on it & of course no one deserves this kind of hate at all, but I'm gonna be honest... I can see where the root of it is coming. we've waited literal YEARS to get gl shows, and they're still like 1% of what bl shows are. especially since geminifourth went from unknown to huge in between the announcement of the show & its start of production, I understand milklove & gl fans who were worried they would steal their thunder when we all know pretty much ONLY male actors at gmmtv get any type of attention. the difference with the nawintinh side ship is HUGE imo tho. firstly they're not even the secondary ship, they're the third one after aylinluna so there's a lot less chance of stealing any thunder, and, as I've mentioned in my text posts on the topic, nawin being a queer plus size person getting a love storyline is literally REVOLUTIONARY. yes, the bar is low, but that's what us fat people have to beg for. you do not realize how much since nawin got his ep 3 storyline I've been thinking about him, I finally feel represented in a thai drama. so I understand people cheering this bl side ship more than the first one, and I think the situations are wildly different. however I don't think generalizing all gl fans as bullies like you did in your ask is right, I would've been happy with geminifourth as a side ship but I'm happier with juneview & euroford as side ships bc they're more pressing representation imo. the vocal minority of haters will always be the loudest, but thinking the ENTIRE 23.5 fandom bullied geminifourth & are hypocrites is a bit insane to me, as if bl fans aren't even more toxic (I would know, I've been in both fandoms lol...)

xxx

[derangedbookworm]

ok guys, here are some of my marauders headcanons. they're pretty modern (mentions of modern artists, technology, and media), and are not hogwarts/canon specific. i think the only ships i directly mention are dorlene, marylily, jily, and rosekiller, but they also aren't specific to any ship. i'll also add picrews of how i imagine each of them.

also, hey! if you don't agree with some of these, that's ok! please do not come into my tags or ask box hating just bc you don't agree! thank you!

(tw: colleen hoover mentions 😔)

~marlene: -lesbian -irish (galway or derry) (she and peter grew up together, and were childhood best friends) -i also love filipino marlene (i literally cannot decide anything) -very blonde hair -has hetechromia (one blue eye and one green eye) -she has cystic acne (dorcas thinks it's so hot) (me too dorcas) -LOVES messy buns with her entire being -cannot sing for the life of her -girl in red -renee rapp -5'8 -she and dorcas like to match outfits -her favorite color is orange -most septum piercing to ever septum pierce

~mary: -pansexual ~colombian (she speaks spanish) (her and james talk shit all the time) ~black (her skin is really dark) -has rosacea (you can't really see it bc her skin is dark, but when it gets hot she gets RED) -she likes wearing her natural hair (in the summer she gets protective styles though) -hazel eyes -showtunes and chappell roan -5'7 -waitress and wicked are her favorite musicals (she thinks glenda and elphaba should have been lesbians) (doesn't everybody?) -loves experimenting with makeup -yellow is her favorite color -wants to wear a yellow sun dress and go frolic in a meadow (real)

~lily: -bisexual -has curtain bangs for sure -scottish or irish (probably scottish) (and she speaks gaelic) -cheek dimples -she's a ginger so she freckles super easily (they're mary's favorite physical attributes of lily's) -anne of green gables (gilbert and anne are such a jily varient) -ambidextrous -she can sing really well -5'6 -PLUS SIZED LILY MY LOVE (i feel very strongly about this) (she's my baby) (i love her so much) -green eyes -six, waitress, and ride the cyclone are her favorite musicals -olivia rodrigo and maisie peters -loves experimenting with makeup -wears very boring clothes (never wears graphic tees or anything like that) (dresses like a beige mom most of the time) (it's ok though) (we forgive her) -her make up always eats (it has not missed once) (her eyeshadow and eyeliner skills are unmatched) -chappell roan

~dorcas: -lesbian -has a very wide nose (marlene worships it, so i had to give it an honorary mention) -5'10 -sza -wears a few different styles, but box braids are her favorite -doesn't actually wear that much makeup (probably just does mascara and eyeliner) -eyebrow piercing -BILLIE EILISH -very dark brown eyes (almost black) -lets pandora try different makeup looks on her and dress her up all the time -naturally very clear skin (marlene is jealous)

~pandora: -pansexual/queer/demisexual (i literally cannot choose) -probably polyamorous as well (she just loves) -black (lightskinned) -she and evan both have vitiligo -5'5 -blonde dreads (her and evan both) -loves those star and heart shaped pimple patches (she wears them even if she doesn't have a pimple) -pink doc martens and those valentines converse -either pheobe bridgers, penelope scott, gracie abrams, or ppcocaine, meg thee stallion, nicki minaj (and there's no in between) -sza -strawberries are her favorite food (she LOVES them) (wears clothes with strawberry patterns, watched strawberry shortcake growing up, strawberry flavored candy is her favorite) -refuses to wear wireless earbuds (1. she's scared one would fall out and she'd lose it) (2. she likes the aesthetic of wired ones better) -autism -light brown eyes -tooth gap (😍) -rock collection

~evan: -gay/asexual (i can't decide) -vitiligo -ocd -i love trans evan as well as cis evan -5'10 -black (lightskinned) -he and pandora have matching jewellery and he wears it all the time -the best brother EVER tbh -would literally kill someone who looked at panda wrong -snake bite piercings (he got them as a dare but ended up loving them) (barty also loves them) (they're so bad for your teeth though 😔) -his favorite color is pink but he pretends it's light blue (he's fooling no one) -blonde dreads -light brown eyes -deviated septum (he hates it but barty loves it) -nirvana, korn, and slipknot

~barty: -pansexual or unlabeled -italian -mullet (the underside is died neon green, and the top is black with some green highlights) -6'2 -raised catholic -BLUE eyes (seriously, someone get this man some brown contacts) -wears those collar chokers unironically (evan secretly loves it) -piercings everywhere (eyebrows, bridge, septum, tongue, ears)(evan won't let him get an albert though) (he's afraid it would get infected/heal wrong) -his favorite color is dark forest green -black clothes (he doesn't own any other color istg) -graphic tees and wife beaters -ripped black skinny jeans -black doc martens but he colors the yellow lining in with sharpie bc he doesn't like it -low-key kind of emo -metalhead but secretly enjoys all genres of music -ethel cain (was raised queer and catholic) -mother mother -mama's boy -him and evan are so fucking freaky (it's actually insane)

~regulus: -gay -autistic (got the good at school autism) -chronic insomnia -5'9 -loves oscar wilde -him and remus DESPISE colleen hoover (me too) -wireless headphones (probably beats bc he's rich) -half-deaf in his right ear, and no one knows why or how -left-handed but was forced to write with his right so he uses his right

-the original sad boi poetry writer -french -gray eyes -gets hot super easily and turns red -but has poor circulation in his hands (he's so me) -hozier -paris paloma (no one knows, don't ask) -ethel cain -loves greek mythology (his favorites are icarus, and pyramus and thisbe) (he just loves doomed love) (i may be projecting a little) -evan and barty have asked him for a threesome at least once -on earth we're briefly gorgeous, the picture of dorian gray, the song of achilles, and a good girl's guide to murder

~james: -pansexual -bpd -adhd or audhd -6'1 -desi (monty) and latino (effie) (i couldn't decide so now he's both ❤) -only wears gold jewelry -speaks spanish -listens to traditional music and abba -taylor swift and hozier -super smart but got burnt out by the time he was 13/14 -bluey and paw patrol (tell me i'm wrong) (this man would eat up paw patrol) (marshall and chase would be his favorites) (and everyone loves bluey) -has the best singing voice of the group -a singular lobe piercing -his favorite color is red -VERY long lashes (the girls are so jealous) -scared of deep bodies of water and abandonment (omg reggie?) -prettiest hazel eyes you've ever seen -can dance really well -red converse -big pants, little shirt typa guy

~sirius: -bisexual or demisexual -french -gray/blue eyes -anxiety disorder and seasonal depression -cptsd -5'8/5'9 (he's shorter than regulus) (i have decided it) -freckles that only come out in the summer -poor circulation in his feet -left-handed -black converse and doc martens -draws on his converse -has a tattoo of the leo constellation on his chest (right above his heart) (☺) -is math and science smart -can't write for the life of him -pheobe bridgers, boygenius, conan gray, and olivia rodrigo -hozier -metallica and dream theatre -band t-shirts and ripped black skinny jeans -leather bracelets -double lobe, septum, and lip piercings

~remus: -gay -welsh -dyslexic -very tan skin and freckles -scared of heights -english and history smart -colleen hoover's biggest hater (real) -6'4 -scoliosis -chronic migraines -ren (go listen to him rn, he's amazing) -david bowie -brown eyes (hazel or dark brown, depending on his mood) -hates red velvet cake but loves chocolate (?) -greek mythology (likes medusa, and achilles and patroclus) -grandpa sweaters and cardigans -levi jeans and fuck-boy pajama pants -sleeper build -awkward as hell -fucking loser (and we love him for it) -bde -song of achilles, they both die at the end, the fault in our stars, the invisible life of addie larue, the picture of dorian gray, and the seven husbands of evelyn hugo

~peter: -omnisexual/straight/unlabeled -irish (galway or derry) -or german -learning disability -anxiety disorder -5'7 -plus sized -his hair is almost brown but still kinda dirty blonde -green/hazel eyes -favorite color is yellow or orange -probably listens to basic white girl music, or rap (idk which one😭) -like, he's either listening to taylor and ariana or he's listening to kendrick and tupac (i don't make the rules 🤷) (both are great anyways so it doesn't really matter) -wears button up shirts and khakis (his parents were super religious and proper growing up, and he hasn't been able to kick the habit) -loves christmas but hates new years -would be fantastic in american football (trust me on this one) (he's a little short but he'd do great) -he's an only child, but he grew up in a more suburban area, so he had lots of neighbors (marlene) -his parents struggled to conceive, and he was a rainbow baby after 2-3 miscarriages (he and james are kinda similar in that sense)

[good-vs-evo]

oooh i was just tryna find some huayin content because i was bored and a little tired and wanted to cheer myself up AND GUESS WHAT

i thought tumblr was a safe place for me to be insane and queer and have a good time w my silly little rarepairs and polycules and hcs

but apparently. i can't ask for one place to be silly lmao there are ppl on tumblr still being like haters... for ships they could easily avoid? and putting it... under the huayin tag? which is, you know. the uh. the intention is kind of confusing. esp since ppl search up that tag w the intent to consume content related to their personal interests and probably don't want to see ppl hating on what they enjoy in the process <3

once again i don't really see the point in so avidly hating a ship that ur tagging it... in hopes that ppl who ship it will see it? because... they're ppl who ship it... and will likely not agree w u... and will likely just see u as another hater... and either ignore or fight and like where will that get anyone? sincerely? and hating an artist so much like w so much passion i think there are better things in life to do such as: find an artist u do like and move on!!

but i digress i just. i wanted to make a lil post w my hcs for them bc i <3 huayin hehe

reusing some from my long post abt all the rarepairs and polycules i ship!

hua cheng rarely got sick, but when he did, he wasn't worried (he knew yin yu would take good care of him)

both yin yu and hua cheng know how to cook, so they make each other meals when they know the other is too busy to remember to cook for themselves

yin yu can read hua cheng's handwriting! possibly the only person on heaven, hell, and earth who can, he's really used to seeing his messy scribbles and has learned how to decipher them

hua cheng was kind of a xie lian gatekeeper for a while, but he regaled yin yu with stories and let yin yu into his temple dedicated to xie lian

e'ming trusts yin yu and likes him to equal levels to xie lian

they have some little odd creatures of mysterious background that they keep and raise together in paradise mansion

yin yu asked hua cheng to teach him how to draw and paint and hua cheng has little lessons for him when they're both free

yin yu's interested in different kinds of masks, so hua cheng gifted him a room and funds to invest in new ones

they have chill time once a month when they're required to leave their work to just spend an entire day together

hua cheng's love language to yin yu is acts of service and gift giving

yin yu's love language to hua cheng is acts of service (no wayyy) and touch

hope u enjoy :) and also wishing u a nice day :D

[blackbird-brewster]

CM Unpopular Opinions

Just a couple of weeks out from the new season, the new trailer just dropped, and people are getting hyped. For last season, I made a CME predictions post (which mostly came to pass, bc this show is so predictable) -- but this season, I'm going to post some unpopular opinions going into S17. Don't like, don't read.

WILL. Since we know Will won't be in this season, there have been speculations that JJ/Will will be getting a divorce, or that Will is going to die. I do NOT want Will to die. I hate that guy, I've never liked his character, but you know who I do love? JJ. She has already been through SO much, I do NOT want Hotch 2.0 in S17. I don't want Will to die, because that would be like ripping half of JJ's soul out of her chest and she deserves better. What I actually think will happen -- is just that Will is going back to being an off-screen partner like he was for most of the series.

JEMILY. I've already written my thoughts on Paget's Jemily hints on social media and why I think that's simply queerbaiting. There's no way Jemily is going to be canon, and I am HAPPY about that. I don't want Jemily to be canon!! Look at how this show treats canon relationships!! How many female romantic interests have been tortured and killed???? Why would I ever want Jemily in that crossfire? Also, as a fanfic author who has been writing Jemily for the past decade -- I don't want them to become canon, because that will squander so much creative potential. Fic authors fill in the gaps and subtext of canon, that's our job, when a relationship becomes canon it really loses it's appeal. That being said, I would love to actually see Emily and JJ interacting again. S16 really ignored their decade-long friendship altogether. Shit, I would love to just see them in the same fricking scene again.

REBECCA. All I want is for Rebecca to survive this season. As mentioned above, the way this show treats romantic interests of main characters is HORRIBLE. I'm forever furious with how the show handled Tara/Rebecca's relationship last season. I know fans hated Rebecca for getting pissed at Tara, but I still don't agree. What I do hate is how as soon as Tara's queerness served it's plot point (getting the inmate to admit he's gay too) -- the show nuked Tara's relationship altogether. I seriously love Rebecca, I think she adds a lot to the show. And since we already know Rebecca is in S17, I would LOVE to see Tara/Rebecca sit down and actually talk through their issues (like real adults!). I would LOVE for them to get the happy ending they deserve.

GARCIA'S ROMANCE. For real, I do not care about any of this love triangle bullshit with Garcia between Tyler and Luke or whatever tf is happening. I seriously hated what they did to Garcia's character in S16, it felt like they completely erased the prior 15 years from her character and replaced it with the most basic hetnormative romance plot. I don't ship Garvez (nor her and Tyler), so I don't really care about that side of things. But I would LOVE to get our Garcia back. I miss her so much.

RETURNING CHARACTER RUMORS. If one of the past cast members comes back in S17 I do not want it to be MGG. CME already focused an entire season on Rossi's man-pain (literally the only reason they killed Krystal was for him to be angry 🙃). I do NOT want another season of white-male centric plot lines (even though that's clearly what's gonna happen with Voight) If anyone actually comes back to guest, I want it to either be Matt or Derek. Alternatively, I do have a crack theory that the unsub/Gold Star is actually Elle Greenaway. A trained government assassin, she became a vigilante after leaving the BAU and she's been operating for all these years without detection. Now THAT would be a good twist.

Listen, overall, I'm not looking forward to another season of Evolution. I think they're trying way too hard to turn CM into some edgy, gritty, Norwegian-type crime drama and in doing so, they've ruined some of my favourite characters irrevocably. I don't have high hopes for S17.

[jackals-ships]

(Clears throat)

So what is Dog?

pulling out my red string board like <3 they're gods weirdest soldier and my silly little guy who's gone through a few different iterations ! the very first being a purple/violet blood cusp troll

before being switched to a human design on the basis of "oh this would be SO funny"

(one of their more recent versions)

their timeline deviates from Homestuck canon, by the time is dog is born earth is pretty well absorbed into the empire and humans are an odd but not Entirely unheard of sight. what IS pretty well unheard of is someone Like Dog

under the cut for Rambling Length <3

their name is actually Jackal Glass, formerly an imperial spy who was constantly on edge but also enjoyed their job. until they had a meeting with the Empress who asked if they wanted to join up with the Church, jackal was too 👁️👁️ to do anything BUT agree (especially with the Grand Highblood, the Clown Pope, in the room) (and also Her Hound, the Orphaner Dualscar behind the throne)

jackal within the church falls under something of an interrogator and bounty hunter, and initially is NOT having a good time but soon enough feels at home. they eventually form a relationship with the grand highblood (bachus) as moirails and jackals pretty dead set that's It (they don't think humans can Feel pitch like trolls, they're some flavor of vaguely aromantic, and moirails for them is closer to a queer platonic relationship)

they're proven Very Wrong however when they meet the Orphaner Dualscar (saturn) as part of a job where they play emissary for the church. they hate each other IMMEDIATELY. very much a "I see the worst parts of me in you and I HATE that" deal (+dog has Issues i've touched on b4 and am gonna rb) which is also how they earn the name dog

bc saturn refuses to remember their name, calling them dog instead and they go "yeah okay. fuck it"

the timelines always Fuzzy but they do end up together + married and dog spends their time going back an forth between the church ship and his

their role is still something of an emissary but it's mostly for show and they still work predominantly as something bounty hunter like

there's also a few different timelines/verses !

troll!dog is the one where they wake up as a troll and just kinda roll with it (art by @almostourgalaxy bc LOOKIT THEM....)

came back wrong verse where saturn dies but is brought back to life All Wrong and dog is (purposefully) ignorant

ghost!saturn where he dies but isn't brought back, and dog is haunted both metaphorically And literally

both of those are also by ahab who lets me play around in his cities <33

[wetcatspellcaster]

Can I ask if you ended up romancing Lucanis in Veilguard and what your overall thoughts on it were? Like obviously it was ridiculously underwritten (I actually laughed out loud when he said he loved my Rook like bro….u don’t even know me) and yet after finishing the game I cannot stop thinking abt Them and consuming fic to make up for the lack of content lol. Somehow it still captured my waking thoughts in a way (is this a safe space) DA2 romances did not. Love your analysis so just curious abt your thoughts!

"oh my god... they were coworkers."

hello anon.

I would like to preface my answer with: yes, my Rook romanced Lucanis. And like a fool, I'm writing a fic about it. Bc that's the only way I know how to cope with this much unfulfilled potential, tbh.

my thoughts on the romance are under the cut bc I still have mutuals who are still playing and trying to avoid spoilers!

yeah, so, my feelings are pretty much the same as yours. The two most overwhelming thoughts I have about it:

the writing is so fucking inconsistent. like yes, it's underwritten, but surely that should mean the throughline is easy to follow? you'd think, wouldnt you! you'd think it made sense!

the two of them truly have NO chemistry as written. the romantic parts of their story feel so odd and out of place because there's no build up to them. in the words of my best friend, 'that's not a romance, that's a secondment placement'.

The first one is the biggest issue for me. There are parts of the Lucanis romance that I genuinely enjoyed and found compelling! I somewhat controversially loved the scene in the lead up to the final battle! but the peaks and troughs (and outright plateaus) in the writing means that no single part matches up with anything that has come before or after. That's not even bringing in how he treats Neve if he's romancing her instead, which would be understandable (Neve is hot, and their romance gives the Treviso/Minrathous debacle a resolution if you're not romancing either of them) if it added up with anything that we see of his treatment of Rook!

i KNOW people are being weird about it and hating on Neve, but the problem isn't her. It's that Lucanis' dynamic with her seems to add a whole new alternative characterisation into the mix. To me, the most frustrating part is that nothing adds up. If he's holding back from Rook bc of his trauma and uncertainty, WHY is he romancing someone else? if he's got so much to fucking work through, why is he part of NPC romance plotline? it just doesn't make sense!

And people have started to reach the point where they're trying to make it make sense, glossing the almost kiss and how wildly different it is from anything else he does, or about the fact that the 'locking-in' dialogue is the most painfully platonic thing imaginable, and everyone's coming up with excuses and headcanons, and it's just... lads. it's just bad writing.

as for my second overarching... well. that's the one that's made me angry to write about it.

At the point of me writing this answer, Mary Kirby has now come out and said that the Lucanis romance is so underwhelming bc he's demisexual, and a virgin. which... you know... I could just personally find offensive from so many angles, the least of which being she seems to be trying to use diversity and queer language as an excuse or shield for what is... yep. bad writing.

But I'm sorry, *looks at my entire ao3 profile and whispers "bet"* that statement is just patently and stupidly untrue! you can write good demisexual romance, actually!

As someone who is on the asexual spectrum, and who writes romances and ships who probably all have a little bit of that asexual seasoning sprinkled across the top... Attraction and chemistry are different things. I have read and written many compelling romances with asexual characters - and you know what? regardless of the characters' orientation, their interest in another person and their appeal to another person is never in question.

If you wanted to write an ace-spec character as sincere representation, there's so many routes you could've gone down. But you chose the power fantasy of a romance - trust me, I know, because it's the same decision I make every time I open up a word document or an ao3 page. the least you could do is do it well.

I'm sorry, it's just bad writing.

As something of an introverted demisexual loser myself, I would love to see Lucanis as representation. But I can't. Because it's not true to any of my experience, and I just don't think it's actually written itno the game. It's being retconned to make up for the fact the romance has landed terribly, and the fact that so much of this game is underwritten and underwhelming and a disappointment.

It's why I think the fic will be good, because I know there's potential there separate from what we've been given. And it's why i'm now writing about it. I wasn't ever sure if this wip document was going to see the light of day, but I guess, if I want to see a demisexual romance actually done right, I've got to do all the fucking work myself.

But yeah, anon! I enjoyed it, and I unfortunately also see the fucking potential!!!! and now it's my problem!!!! and it's up on ao3!!!!

[icy-watch]

^^^^ me with Geo

So so so so so sooooooooooo

You've met GEO

My reasoning for loving him so much stems from Season 2 Part 1 so I can't fully explain

BUT

I can tell you some things that they show doesn't tell (I think):

Geo says that he's a Munch with the color of a Geckle but it's not true; he's half and half

If you didn't notice but only his left ear was pierced; a sign in the Gay community to other gays that you are gay back when being public about it was frowned upon

The man who wrote the episode "Land of Lost Things" and created Geo (I think he made the character) is gay himself! So in a way, Geo is a self-insert character

I am Aromantic. I just don't feel the need or want to have a romantic relationship. And that seems to have stepped over into the media I watch. I don't ship. I'm slightly romantic repulsed. I don't actively hate it, I just don't like it. I'm fine with canon ships like Jaya or Lumity (from Owl House (plz watch it)).

But something about Geo and Cole. Something about how they interact in Season 2 that just.........AUGHAUGHGHHAHG!!!!!!! It awoken something in me. I feel warm inside!!!! I found myself grinning ear to ear.

It could just be the fantastic writing, but it's so much more. The ship for Geo and Cole is called LostShipping and/or Geode. The fanbase kind of goes back and forth. I don't mind either.

I'm still aro, and I still cringe inside at most romance. But Geode is the one exception and the whole #savemyboycole thing is really dumb

Oh look, I did explain it all without spoiling lol

And yeah......there are ppl who are NOT happy about Geo and Cole. They're not even actually together yet some ppl on Twitter are pissy. They HAAAAATE Geo! It's stupid. First off, it's a lego. Second, it's a kids show. Calm down. It's not that bad/important. Some ppl see Cole as Gay (me) and others see him as straight. Both are fine. Both are cool. He's still the same guy.

Oh, and there's no minifig for Geo. I think it's bc of his hair. They don't have like a set piece of it or something.....eh....just make a plushie of him (and of Cole plzzzzzzzzzz) I'd buy 500 if they did honestly

And now that you've met him.....I am safe to change my pfp to GEO!!!!!!!! (I also LOVE his outfit so much!!!! I want it)

(I almost put in a pic of him in Season 2 and was like "Oops....back it up! Can't use that!")

Geo! A blorbo! He's such a bean!

I noticed something right off the bat with him looking like a Munce and a Geckle, so when he mentioned it, it kind of confirmed what I'd thought.

I totally remember the gay ear piercing thing! My cousin and uncle were double and triple checking when they got their ears pierced that they didn't get the wrong ear. And that was in the early 2000s. It's amazing what's changed in 20 years. (Note: this is not the cousin who got married in Malaysia last year. This is his older brother, the extreme goth who hosts the Halloween Birthday Party every year. The 1 where my sister pumped me up to do this.)

Oh! I love that little bit of trivia!

*gives you a virtual hug* I will always love my aro friendlies.

It's extremely rare to see a queer couple that is Comfortable and just Exists. With Geo and Cole, it feels natural and unforced. And I'm very glad for that. It's probably why shipping them feels... nice.

Idk, I'm rambling.

I'm guessing the #savemyboycole thing is connected to chriscreator0 somehow?

A characters sexuality or gender doesn't change who they are as a person, and I wish people who criticize media for including queer characters were more willing to understand that. Just bc something about them is revealed doesn't mean they still aren't the character that they liked.

Justice for Geo! We deserve an official minifig or plush of our pretty guy! I will shake my fist at LEGO until something is done for him.