#anti makroh

[shrinkthisviolet]

for the relationship ask game - 11 (Barry & Cisco), 34, & 47

11. [Barry and Cisco] have just stumbled into a fairy ring, and they've forgotten they ever knew each other! What happens now?

My mind went right to that episode of s3 where Barry got amnesia and fell in love with Iris all over again. In a world with Barrisco endgame...he'd be falling for Cisco (all over again, ofc, because he had a crush on Cisco the whole time in this version of events). And since both of them lose their memories, Cisco would be gushing about Barry too.

But of course they'd both try to disguise it as "friendly banter," because neither of them wanna scare off the cute guy who seems to really like them (platonically, they think. Oh, these lovable idiots).

Caitlin and Iris realize that these two will get their memories back by kissing. And both of them know that Barry and Cisco have been crushing on each other for ages, and are still flirting now, but...how to convince them to go for it?

So shenanigans ensue, in which Caitlin and Iris try to set them up, except those plans go a bit awry. But also, in a way, those plans still succeed, because Barrisco fall more in love with each other until one day they go for it and kiss. And all is well!

(Except they "forgot" where the fairy circle was, so the following week, Caitlin and Iris get stuck there 😉)

34. Are there any well-known fanon relationships (not canon), that you just can't stand?

Oh boy. There's quite a list for this one. And mind you, this is only fandom ships that I have a strong opinion on:

Snowbarry, Zutara, Tokka, Zukka, Silverusso, Samhawk, Irosami, Makroh, Cykesquill (not Aurametis ofc 💞 I’m talking about Athena x Simon), Harringrove, Obikin, Anisoka, Narumayo, Dramione (not that I particularly care about HP nowadays, but still)

(I'm not discoursing about these btw, and anyone who tries is getting blocked ✋ the anti tags are there for a reason)

47. Answered here!

fanfic relationships ask game!

[hayleysayshay]

I did use to like Makroh a fair bit more than I do now, when it was a very obscure ship with like five stories and some fanart. It was a pure crackship. It was a different dynamic for Mako to interact with. A fun and silly what if.

The issues are with the fact that Iroh in TLOK is genuinely one of my least liked characters, and I like most of the characters in TLOK. I would rank him F tier for sure. I’ve said before that Book 1 would be stronger with a tighter focus and less characters and story elements, and I don’t see how fans could wish that we had more focus on Iroh of all people. It feels like fanservice, an excuse to get Dante Basco, the most popular voice actor, back and little else.

Sure, it would be out of character if Iroh was turned into a villain, from what characterisation we do have, but most fanworks are technically canon. Is Iroh shy and awkward? Snarky and sarcastic? Sexy and Suave? Kind and Gentle? A mix of any of these? All technically can work in fanworks as there’s so little to work with. I have disparagingly labelled Iroh as a ‘sexy canon OC’ on my now deleted twitter, and that’s still how I feel, honestly. There’s just nothing there for me. Like if the character in these stories was just an OC instead of being labelled Iroh I would probably like it more because of how much I can’t stand Iroh’s role in Book 1.

The more I see of him, the less I like him. Overexposure to this blank slate of a person. And the thing is I do it to myself, because I like stories where Mako is a main character and gets a romance plot. But maybe I should stop also annoying myself and stop reading it.

This isn’t an attack on anyone who does really like Iroh, I get that other people are seeing something in him that I don’t see. I just don’t understand, and I feel like I’m being left behind by the new breed of Mako centric people, since I’ve seen like three, four fic authors write stories for this pairing recently? And it’s a small community, the Mako defence squad so it does stick out to me, and I fundamentally do not get this new popular pairing so I’m just lost.

[khrushchevs-corn-farm]

So astute followers of the upcoming @avatar-rarepair-exchange-2021​ may have noticed that they have changed rules on what an acceptable pair for the exchange. Initially it was:

It has since expanded to this:

(btw this standard would rule out Bataar Jr./Kuvira and Tenzin/Pema, canon ships)

I suspect that the changes were made because myself and others submitted ships that they simply don’t like. And they have since changed their rules on an Ad Hoc basis. These are the ships I have sent in:

As you can see Linko and Suvira have been rejected. Toko and Azulaang have yet to be approved. I have no idea why Azulaang would not be automatically accepted when Azula is the same age as Katara. Would Kataang be against the rules if it was a minor ship?

I think changing the rules to rule out ships that the managers don’t like is completely unprofessional. Unless the managers of @avatar-rarepair-exchange-2021​ change their rules to allow all ships despite their distaste for it and promise to be open about the process of accepting I will not be participating and I ask that others join me in my boycott.

[orangepanic]

Glad I'm not alone in my efforts to improve the comics 🤣

:0

[hayleysayshay]

K so I think I realised a problem I have with Makroh fan content and why it’s never clicked with me like Wuko is that I wish Iroh wasn’t so dreamy and perfect in these stories, I think like the consistent flaw is that he’s somewhat insensitive when it comes to class and wealth issues between him and Mako, and even then it’s an ‘innocently insensitive’. Like it feels a bit like Asami. And I love Asami but I’d just read Asami fic. I genuinely wish that Iroh was a bit I more a royal prick. This is a weird thing to want. I want asshole Iroh. (Like not in an abusive way to be clear).

So anyway I started to write a story where Iroh was like... engaged to be married to a lovely and proper FN lady. And like he wants to serve the Fire Nation and people but is unenthusiastic about actually being Fire Lord and doesn’t want this engagement, but never actually stands up for himself and even initiates the engagement in the first place. He starts an affair with Mako and they both know it’s wrong but you know... love. Don’t think about the future, just the present enjoyment. Ends up as a hugeeeee mess. Avatar tabloids have a field day.

I believe in ‘if you want something done do it yourself’ so I did but I realise the start of this hinges on sexual tension which I cannot write... at all... so I did shelve this. Which is a shame. I can still dream.

(To be clear I’m not demanding anyone write my version of Makroh just because I want asshole Iroh, or that there depiction of Iroh is wrong, it really is just personal appeal).

[hayleysayshay]

Honestly the Fire Nation Royal Family in TLOK literally just strike me as the British Royal Family with actual legal power which is why I think I can’t really enjoy Makroh at the moment because I’m in complete anti-royal mode right now because they’re all a bunch of twatsssss.

Like fundamentally I know they’re not but like. Smh I just keep conflating them. Like the Fire Nation Royal Family strike me as annoyingly stable like the British Royal Family. I love royal family drama when they’re on the verge of collapse.

[hayleysayshay]

on mako and endgame shipping

Ok, I’ve been blog walking a bit on tumblr. If anyone is interested (and i’m not assuming anyone is because who cares about my opinions lol) I just want to make clear that I’m not anal about wuko becoming canon. I’m not against it in theory but like I’d wanted a whole series dedicated to developing their relationship only think a Wuko post-book 4 quick get together works if you expand and invent events that happened before and during book 4 that we didn’t see (unlike korrasami, which isn’t the greatest written romance ever put to screen, but like, i think it makes sense as is). We will not get this in canon. If the writers did decided it would be a background pairing and it would annoy me and honestly I can just picture it being really cringey. 

However, we have fan works with all the writing and headcanons that expand Wuko in book 4, so that’s enough for me. Canon/Fanon shipping doesn’t really bother me that much (I don’t even ship much, I really like gen). Like I usually just ship canon, but with Mako as a character, post book 4 it’s all fanon to an extent. 

I am unenthused by the idea of Mako x FN Princess being canon as just like, the concept doesn’t interest me in the slightest. I wouldn’t call myself an anti-FN princess x Mako person (does this have a ship name lol) but I am just a bit bored by the spare single character gets with someone who important later. Wu has a defined personality and a dynamic with Mako I found interesting. I can’t find this hypothetical interesting. 

This hypothetical is also still the most likely pairing to become canon. It was hinted by the creators, and eventually I assume the writers will write the krew going to the Fire Nation. If they go to the Fire Nation, they will probably have the royal family, Mako will meet the princess who is nice but feisty. 

(I will say, Wu and Mako had quite a fair bit of interaction in the comics. I don’t think it’s impossible for them to become canon. I just think they’ll introduce a character to be Mako’s love interest. And it wouldn’t be Iroh as he was introduced and established before, and he hasn’t had the interaction Wu has had with Mako. Basically, Princess/Mako then Wuko then Makroh in terms of likliness in becoming canon imo).

So I made a post, and I will say this was designed to be half a shitpost, about how I disliked FN royal family member x Mako as a hypothetical pairing because monarchy is boring and republicanism is sexy. Because whilst I did find what I thought was the funniest way to express the sentiment, that is sort of how I feel? Like Wu’s backstory and creating a new republic is just so much more interesting to me than Mako marrying (I assume this would end in marriage) into the stable Fire Nation Royal Family and becoming a prince. There’s just so much potential drama I find interesting with Wuko that I guess you could do with the Fire Nation Royal Family but it isn’t as canon as Wuko. 

And yes, I kept the gender vague because inherently I was lumping Makroh in with FN Princess. Thinking about why I didn’t like this hypothetical made me also realise why I prefer Wuko over Makroh.

However, I do like Makroh. They’re a pairing that has been expanded on greatly in fanworks and I find it interesting. In canon, however, I think there is a... vagueness to Iroh II as a character, so that for me, he is only interesting in fanworks, and I have no headcanon of my own relating to him as a character or personality, unless you want to here my long form discussions about how the Fire Nation is totally gonna slowly transfer to a constitutional monarchy, and Iroh doesn’t want to be crown prince as he wants to remain a general so he gives it to his younger sis, etc. Basically, I only have headcanons about the main characters, background characters it tends to be more worldbuilding based rather than personality driven.

I totally get that this is not a universal opinion. Some people find Wu to be an annoying character and don’t think Wuko would be an equal pairing, either due to Wu’s immaturity or due to power dynamics (Wu is Mako’s boss etc). Some people wish there was more of the FN Royal Family, and they love the idea of Princess x Mako, or Makroh. They find that interesting and dynamic, and they loving fleshing out the motivations of Iroh or inventing an equal for Mako, etc.

So basically, if I think Wuko canon would be bad and I don’t like Princess X Mako, then what do I like? I’m not bothered about Mako remaining single in canon storylines. However, in the advent of a romance, I prefer Mako getting with a more normal person. Like an accountant. Or a dentist. Even if this character is ‘boring’, I find this type of boring more interesting than the Princess storyline. I feel like there is an obsession with characters getting with someone ‘important’ like I get that people don’t like the MakOperator joke, but looking across some of the posts it seems like people don’t like it because Mako ‘deserves’ someone more interesting, not a ‘nobody’, etc. But this also isn’t an interesting story that can be wrapped up in a fun avatar plot, so if we’re getting a romance, we’re getting an ‘important’ one (so maybe... single mako is the best mako.)

(Also imagine Mako’s poor partner just being like the child of a dentist and like Mako’s got this crazy life with the avatar and they’re like ‘I broke my foot once I guess’. I think this is funny.)

I totally get that I might eat my words when the inevitable FN Princess x Mako storyline comes out. It might be the most amazing storyline ever. I might love that character. I might become a FN princess lover and tattoo their kiss onto my body.

Until then, I remain unenthused. MakOperator supremacy, basically. Twenty Reasons Makoperator was hinted as endgame from book 1 coming soon!