#and this is coming from someone who literally loves shipping

[paraphwrites]

@carpediemma made a poll post about which characters would be who in an alice in wonderland au and none of the one's winning are the ones i want so i will now be justifying my thesis

alice - niko. above all else, alice must be curious and kind. she is also afraid, a lot, because she's in a wild new world - very similar of how niko is scared and in a new world (both ghost/supernatural, america, and a world without her father)

white rabbit - edwin. polite yet preoccupied, punctual yet anxious, obsessive yet unpredictable, always dressed smart... the similarities go on. and while i think some of their actions might not align entirely, i think there is a case to be made for edwin shewing someone along, insisting it must be done his own way

mad hatter - charles. playful, defiant to social norms, bit of an eccentric dress style! though charles is a bit less over the top, i feel that in the right environment, he could go totally mad. hatter has a lot of fun but there is this hint of despair to him which to me, entirely emulates charles

the dormouse - jenny. tired, confused, and underpaid, next question

the march hare - maxine. unpredictable, bizarre, reckless, excitable. not a huge character so not too much to go from but i see some loose similarities in the erratic nature - it's not that they're evil, it's that they're so invested in existence that they might stab you

please do not think of the implications of shipping the dormouse and the march hair i will not be held responsible for that

tweedledee and tweedledum - litty and kingham. petty?? childish?? looks similar??? guys come ON there is no more iconic duo in dbda! they're not very kind, they're not anti violence, they love attention- am i talking about the tweedles, or litty and kingham? you literally can't tell.

the caterpillar - tragic mick. appears when alice is uncertain and needs help, prompts her to reflect on her own identity. not particularly nice but is very helpful and kind, in his own way. calm, almost cryptic, slow manner of speech.

cheshire cat - the cat king. im not gonna explain this one

ok guys bare with me for the next two. they're kinda controversial. i could see them flipped and i did flip them many times but this is what i decided on

the duchess - esther. the duchess is abusive to her child (monty), but can be overly affectionate, as well. duchess is hella comedic in a dark way, she's got a fucked up relationship with power (duchess is a slave to the Queen, esther is a slave to the Snake), she's absurdly contradictory (like esther and her contradiction of wronging girls using lilith's gift)

the queen of hearts - the night nurse. the queen cannot see a way of life other than executions. i know she SEEMS hella emotional, but legit, i think it's more this desperate desire for feelings and sensations because she is so stuck in a loop of being listened to. the night nurse is similarly stuck in this loop of bureaucracy. neither are happy and neither have any true meaning to their lives. they both also seem to lack a nuance to empathy (nurse thinking ends justify the means so no need to feel guilty about the means, almost viewing finding the boys as a game in order to feel SOMETHING). neither would not survive a day in therapy

the king of hearts - kashi. foil to the queen of hearts, very minor character. gentle, soft spoken, trying his best, exists more in his own universe than anywhere else. the key difference is if they went to therapy, kashi's therapist would end up getting therapied, and king would just break down sobbing

the knave of hearts - monty. while if esther was the queen, maybe this would be more apt, but this is my analysis so i'll do what i want. the knave is a victim of absurd injustice, is somewhat sympathetic but ultimately a perpetuater of this same system. monty does the same thing with esther & her abuse. he is also young and handsome which, we've all seen joshua colley, i don't need to explain

the talking rose - crystal (with/pre-david.) haughty, mean, cruel, flirtatious. she's not a villain but she's definitely not on your side. she's critical, both of your looks, personality, and general vibe. but she's also just one of the many flowers, kind of how crystal was just one of the rich kids, not really doing all that much

in this version, i'd have when the flower's roots are freed be the same energy as the boy's getting rid of david. moment of self-transformation, free from curse. i will probably make a follow up post on how i'd do the plot, but i wanted to throw that bit on david out there.

[icantpickausernamesorry]

IF SOMEONE FUCKING HATES ON CRYSTAL FOR KISSING CHARLES I WILL SCREAM

SHE SAW SOMEONE SHE LIKED AND CHARLES SAW SOMEONE HE THOUGHT HE LIKED THEY ARE *16* MOTHERFUCKER.

okay. calmer reaction.

charles saw crystal as someone his age (technically) who he could have a deep and meaningful conversation with, not realising that he could and can do those things with edwin. he also saw edwin's qualities in crystal (like he LITERALLY SAYS) so he feels a romantic attraction to her. he has been led to believe from his upbringing that he is already flawed, so being in love with a boy (who is also his best friend of 30+ years) is still strange and scary to him, obviously. so- kiss.

crystal got free from her demon ex boyfriend who possessed her and made her eat trash and she saw 2 people who rescued her from that. one she saw as antisocial and annoying (not realising his true qualities, as charles did). the other she saw as kind and social. given her wierd ass psychological situation, she looked at this and saw someone she could love and who would love her back. so- kiss.

charles has an obvious attraction to edwin and he realises it a little at the end of the s1, but he's still battling out a lot of unknown and strange emotions all at once, with his repressed trauma coming back and edwin's confession along with crystal's powers being wierd to him and her. so- he doesn't do anything.

if you blame crystal for being a 16 year old girl, you can shut up. I agree that she should have figured herself out more before *dating a ghost* but the hate is unjustified for even that. she is a multifaceted woman charactar and the internet is famous for not being able to handle that (example- Gwen fucking Stacy from spiderverse. yall are sk stupid for hating her like that smh).

I am payneland forever but I don't hate crystal because this is just "I HATE HER BECAUSE SHE CAME BETWEEN MY FAVORITE SHIP" when that's the fuckung point. dbda is a show about growth and development and realising yourself, amdist the demon and pedophilic cat king. she had to do this for charles ro realise. I'm extremely sad that crystal will get her heart broken and I wished it wouldn't happen, but I recognize the story. you should to.

tl;dr- stop making crystals charactar just some girl who came between 2 guys. she us more than that. treat her with respect, you swabs of used q tips.

[aixeko]

/// TD;LR Erise hating on Trailblazer x Kafka [ Includes both genders, idgaf I HATE THEM ALL ] and the random slander against Childe, Aventurine and Ayato

I hate Trailblazer x Kafka with my ENTIRE SOUL. I thought I would hate Kafka and blade more considering he's heavily implied to be gay but nope.

LIKE LOOK AT THEM THEY'RE HER KIDS THEY'RE OUR KIDS. SHE BIRTHED THOSE RACCOONS. Fun fact: I had a raccoon obsession since 2022 and have been referred and symbolised as a raccoon by my friends plus my LOVE for classic music Like they're literally my children and wife 😕😕

"But Kafka called them her destiny" SHUT UP. LOOK CLOSELY. REALLY CLOSELY.

THE GAME SUPPORTS HER BEING A MOTHER FIGURE COUNTLESS TIMES. (It's the middle of the night if I must, I would continue rambling when I'm awake)

I hate the amount of art I see of them and cry inside a little when it's genuinely good art too. Like Himeko is RIGHT THERE. Leave Caelus and Stelle to firefly and march (Dan Heng too ig) omg 😭 call me possessive idc, Kafka deserves better... Himeko the only one and best choice for Kafka right now. This is coming from someone who was loud and proud about being a kafhime hater btw, I'm a changed person now. They're my darlings, I love them both to death. Literally, ahem hime ahem.

I can tolerate it enough but don't ever shove any piece of media regarding Trailblazer x Kafka into my face else I will go on a lost ass essay about the many reasons why they're so... DISTASTEFUL. They even beat my hatred for Childe, Aventurine, and Ayato (Don't come at me, it's just projection, except Ayato.) which is a great feat considering the absolute disgust I feel towards them. <- has toned down lately because of kafblaze, whatever the ship name is

[connorsjorts]

cyberlife putting magnets in connors feet is canon to me now. i left the fandom some time ago, now im back, so i can enjoy all the fanworks that came out while my brainrot was dormant. but im so shocked at how widespread the notion that hankcon is problematic now is. it was the main ship a couple of years ago? and now the main tag is flooded with negativity. and idk if my claims hold any water, but i feel like the dynamics that were quite commonly used for hank x connor now are used for reed900? when did this fandom decide that two characters which 1) appear rarely and only to be an asshole and 2) doesn't even have any lines are a better ship than those two bastards who are literally insane about each other? (none of their interactions are normal, but its so in character for both of them, i love it) anyway, i hope you didnt have to experience any of said negativity and are doing well, cause i loved your fanfics <3

Honestly I forget that Connor’s magnet feet aren’t canon—how that clumsy-ass android who botched a barrel-roll into a first story window managed to keep his feet planted on a moving train is the biggest plot hole in all of DBH.

Welcome back to the fandom! Sometimes I wish I had been here from the very beginning, because even when I showed up in 2020 it was like this. I remember wandering into the ship tag, naive and desperate for conktent, and finding nothing but “hankcon shippers are perverts” and literal comparisons between a thirty year old man and a six year old boy 🥲 I pretty much avoided tumblr entirely because of it and stayed exclusively on twitter the first couple years! (RIP.) I feel like tumblr has actually gotten better since then? That said, in the four years I’ve been here I’ve somehow managed to avoid any direct hate, probably partially through luck and partially because I’m not afraid to use the block button. It’s never personal, it’s just that I am here for one thing and one thing only and that is old man yaoi. I would also advise staying off of ig and tiktok for fandom content because good god, people are MEAN over there.

As for reed900, the ship doesn’t really do much for me personally, but one thing that I really love about it is that it’s basically fanfiction of fanfiction. Like, fans basically created that ship and even their characters out of next to nothing, and made something so compelling that it’s now the fandom’s most popular ship on ao3! That is so cool! As someone who doesn’t care about the DBH canon like, at all, and is way more into the fans’ creations and creativity, I have a deep appreciation for reed900 shippers even if I don’t subscribe to their newsletter. 

I do agree that it’s very similar to the hankcon dynamic, which, who can blame them? It’s a great dynamic. And I don’t begrudge anyone for not wanting to ship Hank and Connor. But when it comes to people who ship reed900 but actively hate hankcon, those who call hankcon disgusting and cry about having to see it while never seeming to take any actual steps to avoid it? I dunno, I smell ageism in their hearts, and to them I say—old people are hot, and it’s not our fault if you have bad taste in men 😌

Thank you so much for your kind words about my fics 💖

[milevenstancyendgame]

In Defense Of Mike

Sometimes antis inspire you to write meta - I don't know why, but today I feel like going through these Mike accusations that someone left on my Eleven post, lol:

No one talks shit about my boy Mike on my post.😎

-"And not to make this about shipping because El is her own person and should be discussed outside of ships, BUT" - goes on long ass shipping discourse.

You nailed it right there, buddy.😂

-"Mike babies her throughout their relationship":

I think it's so funny that those who are on the fence shouting about El needing to break up with Mike, to be independent, are doing exactly what they accuse Mike of doing (gaslight much?). You're willfully ignoring her love for Mike, which is canonical, projecting your own dislike of him onto her, like you know what's best for her. You're babying her.

So when does he baby her? I can't think of any time, but since you also said that he's protective and "El wants to be trusted and supported", I'm gonna take a wild guess and say you're talking about SOME scenes between El and Mike in s3.

I think it's funny that antis wave Mike's protectiveness over El in s3 as though it was some big red flag.

Like, ya'll act as though he wanted to lock her up in the cabin. Oh wait, that was Hopper in s2, actually. I don't see you hating on Hopper though, even though he's an adult.

Mike is worried and traumatised from losing El several times before. Yes, he doesn't know how to deal with this, but like you keep saying, El is her own person and should be respected as such.

So what does El do? She shows that she doesn't like it, and in an intimate moment away from the over-the-top comedy of s3, she tells him "I need you to trust me".

And how does Mike react? Did you actually watch that? Because it doesn't sound like it. He ACCEPTS what she says IMMEDIATELY, even gives Max an acknowledging glance, and backs off, letting her do her thing.

Like this right there. That's growth.

And that's him doing exactly what you say El needs - that's trusting, supportive, and letting her decide for herself. Which, by the way, he has been doing the whole time and continues to do.

He apologies to her and shows that he has been self-reflecting, and is overly hard on himself. He's aware that he was jealous and that he doesn't know how to deal with his strong love for El.

That's healthy and wholesome, and also huge for a 14-year old emotionally neglected boy, who has no blueprint for a healthy romantic relationship.

But no, you don't want to see this. Nor anything else, apparently. Just literally this ONE DAY on which he was overwhelmed and worrying about El. And you interpret that as "babies her throughout their relationship". That is…wild.

-"Mike puts El on a pedestal" & "Mike never compliments El's personality" :

Wow, this feels like the most unjust accusation of all. You interpret him thinking and telling her she's a superhero as putting her on a pedestal?

First of all, how can you do that, when you just said that he babies her throughout.😆 It almost seems like your various views about him are incompatible...maybe because they're not founded on reality...👀

He's the one who constantly reminds everyone else that El is not a machine, that she has limits, that she has human needs...seriously, have you watched the show? S1? When everyone saw her as a problem or a weirdo or a traitor or a monster or a criminal or a science experiment....and he was the one who treated her for what she was - a scared, friendless child in danger. An equal. A friend.

How come you're not hating on Dustin and Lucas? Maybe you're able to see how they changed? Or Max, because she's in awe of El in s2 and in s3 is 100%ly confident that she will be able to defeat the monster on her own? Maybe you're able to see that she had a normal reaction to finding out about someone's super powers and that she simply was mistaken? Or Steve, because he refers to her as "this girl with superpowers that we usually rely on"? Maybe you're able to see that this didn't reflect any dehumanising on his part?

Oh, but Mike is different of course.🙄

Mike never treats El as anything else but his equal. If he actually put her on a pedestal, he'd constantly be like: "Oh, but I'm sure El can fix it!" for every problem they have, and he'd be disappointed and shocked to witness her humanity - her flaws, her needs, her imperfections.

Well, he doesn't. On the contrary, he tries to provide for her every need, reminding others of them, is worried about her overexerting herself (which you hated on a moment ago, but now strangely seem to have forgotten), and never pushes her to fight for them. He's also always the one who wants to provide a back-up for her, to not let her fight alone or do everything for them (like in the caves in s2, or in s3 when they try to overturn the car in the mall).

Okay, and my personal favourite: "He also does this with Dustin and Will" So I'm guessing you're referring to Mike telling Dustin in s1 that his cleidocranial dysplasia is like a superpower, after being bullied; and in s2, when he tells Will he's like a super-spy now. And of course telling El that she's a superhero.

And you think this is bad????????

😳

Sorry, I just....HOW? He's literally reassuring Dustin that he not only accepts him as he is, but that his difference is cool, he compares him to the coolest people they know and admire, the super heroes from comics. He's trying to cheer him up after he got humiliated for being different. I mean...I guess if he had given him a hug, you would have found a way to interpret that as bad.😬

And the same with Will - he sees that his friend is barely keeping it together, he's rightly panicking, because he's possessed by an interdimensional monster, but Mike finds a way to distract him, invite his mind to see things in a different way that actually EMPOWERS him, reassuring him that they won't let the monster spy back, and again, this is bad, because?

Or do you mean it's only bad when he does it with El?😂 Because it's the same thing. He's trying to reassure her that she's not a monster, that he loves her.

And once again - when she shows in s4 that she doesn't like something he's doing (not saying "I love you"), he accepts that, he feels bad, and tries to give her exactly what she asked for at the next opportunity!

Apparently you didn't see that either.

And "he never compliments her personality". How many hoops do you want him to jump through?🤣

Mike shows that he loves and respects El all the time, he doesn't need to say "You have an awesome personality." for El to feel that. And she never expressed any need for that. Does Hopper compliment Joyce's personality to her face? Did Joyce do that for Hopper? Did Nancy do that for Steve or Jonathan or vice versa? Did Max say that to Lucas? I guess Lucas is the only one who really loves his partner, because he did that once.🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣

Oh, and of course, the whole monologue at the end of s4 doesn't count, because. "I love you on your good days, I love you on your bad days, I love you without your powers, I love you with your powers...I love you exactly for who you are."

That's somehow not valid, hm?

Mike can't win in your eyes, because you don't want him to. This is called scapegoating, btw.

Lastly, it's strange that you have a reference to him in your username, when you clearly think he's so horrible and accuse him of all this...together with a reference to Will...hmm...how mysterious....🙄🙄🙄 Almost like you had double standards for a certain agenda.🤔

*Drops mic*

[caiusmarciuscoriolanus]

I’m about to literally yeet myself off of the bear tumbler until after I watch season 3. Like most of you guys are really super cool and I’ve had some genuinely awesome conversations about meta and characters with really cool mutuals. That being said.. SOME, AND I MEAN SOME NOT ALL, ARE WAY WAY TOO INVESTED IN THE PERSONAL LIVES OF THESE ACTORS AND YOURE NOT SEPARATING THE ACTORS FROM THEIR CHARACTERS. This I feel like mostly applies to Sydcarmy (as I’ve observed). Like I said, SOME of you want sydcarmy to happen so bad (which is fine) that you would go as far as to push the same narrative onto the actual actors. Why do you care so much about what they do? Why speculate on the nature of their relationship? Why hate or obsess over it? If they haven’t come out and said “yeah we’re a thing” or some shit then it’s not really anybody’s business what they do or don’t do. Whether that would be together or separately as their own people. I completely understand the love for shipping the characters but literally leave the actors alone.

And also while I’m at it, I think having favorite ships is fine and shipping in general is fine, but I’m almost kinda to the point where I’m tired of digging through all the shipping content for the bear (all ships really) to try and get to the actual stuff people post about individual characters, plot lines, meta. Like yes, I think shipping is fun and I generally don’t have any thing against it all, it’s just that at this point within the plot the relationships and priorities of characters feel like they need individual focus. We literally ended last season on close up contemplation for each individual character within the show. They are all trying to grasp their own personal struggle with the chaos and all feeling different about it. There needs to be more of that. They all have stuff to work on individually. I just don’t think we need these characters forming romantic or intimate stages to their relationships with each other or others until they settle the situation the storyline took us through last season. I may be the only person that feels that way but idk🤷🏻‍♂️ like I need so many other plot points explored before any sort of romance or intimacy. I need carmy to fucking get his shit together and figure out if he wants to do this restaurant shit. I need syd to do the same thing just in a little bit of a different font. I need Richie and Carmy to fix their shit. I need to see what Marcus is gonna do. I need carmy and Nat to lay more of their Mikey shit out on the table. I need more syd taking the reins and being acknowledged for said effort. I need Carmy to call his fucking mom. I NEED CARMY TO JUST FUCKING SAY SOMETHING AND IT NOT BE A TOTAL DEFLECTION. BRO I NEED HIM TO LIKE ACTUALLY INTAKE OXYGEN FOR A MINUTE. AND I KNOW THERE HAS TO BE MORE MIKEY FLASH BACKS. THERE ALSO HAS TO BE MORE WORLD BUILDING IF THATS THE CASE. WE’RE ONLY TWO SEASONS INTO THIS SHOW AND THERE IS SO MUCH MORE SHIT I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT.

[sukibenders]

Racism and misogynoir are so apparent in fandom, especially when it comes to shipping because why is it when a white male, sometimes female but I see it more with the former, character is on screen with a love interest, particularly woc, especially if they're black, and even with all the emotional scenes or just moments where they look at one another in ways different from the rest, it's met with "No, they aren't dating/the show is not going to put them together" but let the other love interest be white as well and suddenly it all makes sense? Heck, the examples I mentioned above don't even have to exist between the latter for some to STILL go and believe this rhetoric (eg. some Jace and Helaena shippers because, even if these two only interacted with a dance but yet we see Baela console Jace, after he seeks her out, apparently it's to far fetched to believe that Jacela could be a thing?!)

Sometimes it could be a headcanon that, largely, would make sense (and oftentimes was birth due to lack of respect that the poc characters could have been given by the writers *cough* TVD *cough*), and yet you'd still have people dismissing it left and right and spewing hate. At a HEADCANON! And I'm not saying that just because the other person in the ship is poc that you have to ship them, I'm not, but it's very apparent to many poc fans in fandom that unless the characters are swapping spit and doing the nasty, the possibility of them being viewed in any romantic lens feels too much of stretch even though their white counterparts don't have to jump through the same loops.

[chirpsythismorning]

The way fans on the st sub are almost all in agreement Nancy ending up with neither Jon nor Steve wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, and how they can even come up with a sleuth of reasons as to why, honestly pretty valid and fair reasons, but then are absolutely gobsmacked when fans merely speculate something along those lines for El is, quite something.

[ozcarma]

I’m actually so upset over the grimmons resolution I’m tempted to start a YouTube channel and make a whole video breakdown of their fucking queerbait

[ritzcuit]

i always feel so embarrassed and defensive when i see posts like "you ppl only like characters for ships" cus im like Mannnnn i ship things. i guess i have to go die! HELPPP

[burinazar]

It's a bit funny that to parts of my circles I'm 'the fandom one'/'the fanfic one'/'the shipping one' as the person they know most prominently into such things

because as much as i love writing my fics and shipping my ships my interest in both of those things is, I think, very narrow and specific compared to most people who are into them? due to my habits being like. very particular

[saph-yells-into-the-void]

every once in a while I think about the whole teru-akane-aoi love triangle thing.

bc I genuinely don't think teru is into aoi. it just all feels too weird, his 'crush' is only ever built upon when teru mentions it to akane, and I'm 90% sure he did that solely to fuck with him.

but the thing is that we don't see him even try to forge a relationship w aoi outside of akane. sure, maybe a few friendly interactions here and there, but for the most part he doesn't go out of his way to be closer to her. or to know her better.

it just doesn't feel like teru treats aoi any different than everybody else.

but you wanna know who he does act different around (besides kou and tiara ofc)? akane. totally different. more free. more arrogant but that's just him being himself. it doesn't feel like he's putting up an act at all like I feel he does w everyone else.

teru even said it himself. he has no stress talking to akane.

so if anything it feels like akane is the one most appropriate for teru to have a crush on, or for him to like. (which even if that was the case it would still make some of his behavior weird but idk maybe having exorcist blood makes you more violent to your crush and want to tie them up???)

or maybe I'm totally wrong about everything and teru just woke up one day and decided he wanted to be a homewrecker, who knows really

[so-long-soldier28]

can we talk, for a minute, about how badly jeremy treats bonnie?

i'm sitting here, writing a fic, and it's occurring to me just how bad of a boyfriend he is to her. like, we have the obvious example of him cheating on her with anna, which is just heinous, and lasted way longer than it should. and i liked anna, but i hated how jeremy treated bonnie in his attempts to connect with ghostly vampire girl. and then further in the series, their relationship is just so off and on, and bonnie deserves better than that (obvs she dies a couple times so it's not always his fault, but still).

but the thing i'm focused on right now is how jeremy reacts to kai. and like, i get it, kai was his only way to see and help her in the prison world, so he had to be nice to him, but jeremy seemed to have minimal ill will towards the man who repeatedly hurt his girlfriend in the PW. like there's no way that damon didn't tell the two gilberts of all the shit that went down, but jeremy's just like 🤷‍♀️. he shot kai with an arrow for elena, but when it comes to bonnie being tortured by kai, he's just, "what's he doing here?" and that's it

i don't know. these thoughts are kind of scattered, so i'm not sure i'm making sense, but i needed to get them out of my head. anyone agree about it, though?

[crimescrimson]

First and final warning guys! Don't tag my stuff with any type of Cleon tags please! Someone just did and the ship makes me very uncomfortable! I don't like blocking people because of this kind of thing but I have and will do so if you refuse to listen to me. It's the one and only boundary I have for now when it comes to my gifs, please respect that!

[cutebunnys50]

idk if I ever publicly yapped about how much I love SV Teto but I really truly do lmao, I love both UTAU Teto and SV Teto immensely, which is a lot. Basically whatever Miku x Teto brainrot anyone can imagine me with, just multiply it by 100 and you're marginally closer to just how much I love them lmao

[shidoukanae]

I also have so many thoughts on Paris/Helene in the light novel based on this newest chapter ngl

on one hand im nervously laughing because holy shit Paris is NOT okay

but also on the other hand im giddy as fuck because the light novel is redeeming itself with this one chapter alone and now all my fears of this ship being handled badly got thrown out the window HELL YEAH