#anyway anyone can ship what they want this is just my opinion ofc

[clowns0cks]

why do I keep getting insane tenrose shippers on my dashboard. like. do what you want I don't care but I don't get just normal post I get like specific posts where people are obsessed with seeing tenrose as romantic and nothing else and. it's so annoying. ofc it's not my place so I just block and keep scrolling but why is tumblr showing me this

[mochinon-yah]

I just realized we all technically have the power to ask any questions on this site, and I never got to doing it. So....

[Points S.E.E.S evoker at you]

Who are the fictional characters you ship your mutuals to? Doesn't have to be necessarily their self-ship. I am deadass curious. Spill the tea, Imbibitor's lover—

We can lower that down, brynn- no need to get all aggressive now-

*cough* ANYWAY!

I'll list them down below, and if they're not accurate or you're actually gonna fight them rather than making out with the characters that i chose then yeah, that is probably my plan 😀 /silly

Oh and! I'll mostly be using genshin and hsr characters because yeah-

@beloved-brynn -> heizou and ratio. NGL, YOU + HEIZOU, OR YOU + RATIO, OR EVEN THE THREE OF YOU WOULD TOTALLY BE SO FUNNY AND CHAOTIC 😭☝️ they can counter your wild statements while also being the (somewhat) saner one but could also say smth wild as well. I could see you and one of em (possibly ratio) be like "oh yeah, the other day, i was eating my lunch while watching that gorey movie-" "what." "yeah, i was hungry at that time, so like why not yk-" (this is based on my real experience guys, guess which dialogue is me lmao)

@meimeimeirin -> hmmmm, koh zhongli maybe? Okay, let me tell you the reason why... it's simply because she NEEDS someone who can pamper her! I don't know where that conclusion came from, but yeah. Anyway, if we're talking about other characters, then i think welt, or even zayne from lnd could fit. Basically: "I need someone older, just a little bit colder." lmao (oh, mochi, did this conclusion came up because you know rin's the youngest in her family and now you ship her with men older (and more experienced) than her? whaatt... ofc not, haha-)

@leftdestiny-posts -> absolutely cannot see them with anyone other than dottore. Cute and kind but is secretly crazy "i want to watch the world burn" x The human version of the word 'crazy' "as you wish, my love" would be their dynamic, i suppose...? WAIT OH! I can actually see shiro with ayato or maybe sunday! I bet they would like such a cute, innocent-looking darling to control, but then they would get so surprised and maybe super interested into trying to control the darling despite how crazy the darling actually is- (shiro ily, if ur crazy then we can be crazy together 💐)

@navxry -> arlechinno, and maybe black swan. Yeah, that's it. No explanation needed.

@jessamine-rose -> hmmm, would it be weird if i say capitano? I don't know why or how did i get to that conclusion, but yeah. And maybe blade? IDK WHY I'M PARTNERING HER WITH CRAY CRAY MEN- SORRY JESS, I (subconsciously) THINK YOU CAN LIKE CALM THEM OR SMTH AJFIAWOF-

@stardust-for-your-soul -> funnily enough, i can see her with aventurine. They'll say sweet words that probably have a double meaning and also probably have a teeny tiny bit (maybe a lot lmao) of 'enemies to lovers' moment. (wow, cherry, your new bf is a gambler- /smack). But anyway, i could also see her be with march 7th who is so bubbly and sweet, and i'd think cherry would love to tease march hehe

@teabutmakeitazure -> ACTUALLY NGL DAN HENG????? He would listen to her ramblings and also help her write her fics. It just sounds so cute in my opinion lol. Other than dan heng (who is obviously the best choice), zuri would probably look into red flag charas, like... yeah, aventurine- but still tho, dan heng! But i get what zuri is thinking tho, red is such a sexy color- /smack

@harmonysanreads -> ngl alhaitham or kaeya would be cute if paired up with her! Idk where did kaeya come from, but when i thought about it, instantly "cute!". I think, harmony has this really 'weird' calming aura that could make those two charas just fell in love with how comfortamble she can make them feel. BUT LIKE IDK THO-

@fishanonishere -> Albedo...... i think? Fish, i know what you are- i mean like as in how chaotic and just how 'what in the world is this person thinking???' you are. With how calming and 'would jump into any interesting topic' he is, i think fish and him could be such a cute duo. Fish's ramblings and their drawings are some of the things that make him really interested in fish

[cptn-merica]

thoughts on peggy carter

i think my biggest issue with peggy carter is marvel is trying to push agendas and pander to audiences as a cop out for formulating a dynamic character. it's obvious she's supposed to be a feminist icon. that's totally cool. i appreciated that as a kid, since i was sick of women being portrayed as weak. the way i see it, peggy suffers from weak portrayal, not portrayal that she's weak.

--

before the peggy fans comment/reblog, "omg not another stucky blog posting peggy hate. leave her alone!!" i don't hate peggy, I just want a clearer picture of who she is. i enjoyed her in the mcu but i wish marvel would've given her justice within the writing. this isn't hate for hayley atwell either. she did really good in her acting, enough so i watched more movies with her in it intentionally.

--

peggy always read to me as a half-developed side character -- no matter if she's the main character. my one of my biggest complaints is that she seems to have little to no motive. motive is what drives people and your main character having consistently unclear motives is sloppy writing.

helping steve? sure, she's his commanding officer and she seemed to like him.

"win the war"? well sure, that was a lot of other people's motives in ww2. why did she even join the war anyways? what convinced her to sign up? she didn't have to, she could've done other work. what was so compelling about the war to her?

for the what if episode: why'd she choose to take the super serum?

my point here is: there are too many points where one questions why she did ___ that could have been better defined (esp in the what if series).

--

marvel can make her much more interesting (and to me appealing) character by not putting her in comparison to steve. they would be forced to solidify her character instead of wimping out and saying "well she's the love interest." I'm not saying that she can't have both a relationship and be a strong woman - many women have/are both. however, when your entire personality depends on your relationship to one person, it's not very healthy or wise.

the concept of marvel pushing for steve and peggy's relationship is fine, that's how romance novels are made. but the lax follow-through on character development removes my interest for the ship. how good romance novels bring interest to each character is by establishing them. they also used peggy as way to pander for chris evans himself - she was an easy way to get steve rogers out of upcoming plot lines. (side note: chris evans is totally justified in not wanting to work for marvel anymore, they just should've handled his character's ending less sloppily)

as for the ship - i would see more value in the steve x peggy ship if i could tell what type of person peggy is. especially when you take away steve. i see value and interest in steve and bucky because, even though bucky was made as a sidekick to steve, he has a strong character. would i want to see him even more fleshed out? yeah, ofc. would i say he's more fleshed out than peggy? yes, because in one movie you can tell who bucky is and why he's doing things. i see why people ship steve and peggy, and I see why people ship steve and bucky. both stances are valid.

i haven't seen it yet nor i do know if i will watch it due to personal time and budget constraints, but i hope that the agent carter series strengthens her character.

ultimately, peggy is the victim of poor and sexist writing.

(note:: this is my personal opinion & analysis, based on the first two cap movies and the what if series. im not speaking for anyone but myself. if you feel like her character is rich enough and you're satisfied by her portrayals, that's great, I just wanted to share my stance. again, i don't hate peggy, I just want a clearer picture of who she is and why she does what she does)

[asmoteeth]

¡Hey Asmo! How are you doing? I hope that you have been fine (idk from which part of Argentina are you (and it's not my business to know), but I hope that you are not suffering the heatwave as much as I'm XD)....

That last wedge fanart was simply sooo good Asmo...the look of shock, but also betrayal/slash anger, was spot on *chef kiss* idk about you, but with all the fluff present, some angst too would do really nicely (this is so perfect)

My personal hc: even as an established couple, HS still feels awful for his attitude towards Wedge when he found out he was an ex-con; it's really obvious when he's in that state, because he looks like a kicked puppy and exudes misery when around Wedge. How do you think he would fix this? Mandatory cuddle time? Wedge will turn HS into a burrito when he refuses to cuddle? Kinda like this?:

*I bet he also does it when HS tries to do something stupid or when he's sleepy but doesn't want to recharge* Bonus: if you are into completing ship charts, would you be interested in doing this one? Only if you wanna ofc... You can ignore the horny level part, though (cause I know your opinion on that matter)

Anyway, ¡sending you good wishes Asmo!

THE FIRST LINES WERE A WHISPLASH DO YOU MEAN LIKE-- YOU LIVE IN ARGENTINA TOO????? THAT'S SO COOL IF THAT'S THE CASE JSNWKABSIWKWBEIQJQ WHUAAAA The heatwaves have been painful, my clasroom is a forsaken OVEN and I almost threw up from the heat today, thank you for asking (´-﹏-`；)

THANK YOU SO MUCH <333 Honestly the expression was the first thing I drew in the whole piece, I just had an idea of anger+shock+fear+sadness and had to put it down to drawing QUICKLY and then I kept going, I didn't even expect to finish it today, I'm very proud of the lighting and blurry parts doing their job at giving the drawing profundity.

I DEFINITELY FEEL LIKE HOTSHOT COULD GET THOSE GUILT TRIPPING MOMENTS, even if he changed his whole view on deceptions he was probably raised with AS SOON AS HE DISCOVERED WEDGE WAS ONE I feel the things he said ("decepticons don't count as anyone" for example, ouch) might crawl on his back from time to time, what if he needs to overcompensate for that night?

What if he makes a day FULL of silly activities Wedge enjoys? Idk, weight lifting? THEIR DUO DRAG RACE STUNT, etc.

But Hotshot keeps getting guilt trips and it shows so at some point Wedge shakes him by the shoulders like WHAT'S WRONG WHY AREN'T U HAVING FUN

Hotshot is cornered and has no other way than to explain what's bothering him, Wedge is a little mad, but over the fact that he didn't tell him in the first place, specially when it was related to him and the fact that it was eating him from the inside this much.

They decide this day should be more soft, so they just head back inside, SOMEHOW GET A BLANKET LONG ENOUGH FOR THEM (sewing???) And YES, THEY CUDDLE YOU ARE SO RIGHT (tho honestly for me their "cuddling" is napping sprawled on the conversation pit, Hotshot is def a spider hugger when sleeping I accept 0 criticism)

I'M SO SO INTO COMPLETING CHARTS, I LOVE COMPLETING CHARTS, FEEL ABSOLUTELY FREE TO SEND ME MORE PLEASE PLEASE <3333

I love the slider thingie so much omg

THANKS FOR SUCH A BIG ASK SINCE I BEEN FEELING KINDA DOWN THESE DAYS

[b1adie]

ADRIENE ANGELVIRUS xxiv × mirror pronouns × aro lesbo

… or just adriene, or adri…

this is a sideblog, main is a secret ^_^

uid: 604304306 (north america)

SOME RULES;

please don’t send me fetish content, especially if you are on anon, a minor, or have no age listed. tbh don’t send me any nsfw unless you’re an adult and i’ve asked

i would appreciate if you could avoid tagging my posts with anything like ‘daddy/mommy’ even in a joking way, unless you are using it only as a parental term. keep in mind that i’m a real guy and have to see all of your tags…

don’t comment sinophobic stuff on my posts (ie. “they’ll never make a gay relationship canon because its a chinese game” etc). don’t do any bigoted stuff really but thats the one i’ve mainly seen

if you want to repost some of my stuff, if it’s just a text post edited onto a pic, credit isn’t required (but still appreciated)! if it’s anything more complex, please do credit me, preferably with a link back to the original post. i spend way longer on my silly little edits than you’d expect.

you’re welcome to dm me, but please keep in mind that we start off as strangers, so something you think is funny could be misconstrued as rude or confusing on my end. tone indicators are absolutely fine to use if you’d like. conversely, feel free to ask me for clarification on anything you need, i don’t mind! i know i can be hard to read sometimes.

i’d also prefer you have an age (or at least age range or indicator like minor, 20+, etc) listed if you dm me, but obviously you don’t need to tell anyone anything. that’s just for my own personal comfort. i’m fine being friends with anyone, but a friendship with a high schooler would look a lot different than a friendship with someone around my own age.

if you make/find any art or content about worm theory you have to show it to me asap

FAQ;

(something about genshin impact or wuthering waves or zenless zone zero)

please send that to my genshin blog or my wuthering waves blog OR my zenless zone zero blog instead! (@nabumalikata + @threnodian + @nicoledemaras)

(any lore question)

if i know it i’ll go find the source for you. if i don’t know, you can ask anyway and there’s a good chance i’ll go hunt down some answers for you. i love lore. i know everything

how do you make your (edits/gifs/etc)?

for silly edits usually just picsart, but procreate for the more intense ones. gifs i use a yt downloader site, then capcut to edit, then ezgif. videos either splice or capcut. glitters i made a tutorial here, but like, my method is really complicated since i’m always on my phone, so there’s probably an easier way if you have a pc…

can you make a gif/edit/glitter of this?

probably! be specific with what you want— send me pictures or direct links if you can. requests are always open, just keep in mind i may not do every single one i get (but i do tend to do them all eventually).

why didn’t you answer my ask yet?

sometimes i see an ask pop up in my activity feed so i answer it right away. otherwise it has to wait til i decide to open my inbox. if it’s an ask that requires some time, like asking about lore or builds or opinions, it’ll probably take me longer to get to. i’m a busy guy, i work 13 hour shifts irl and have chronic hand tendonitis which makes typing hard. ofc if you’re worried tumblr ate your ask, you’re fine to send another, just please don’t be rude or pushy about it, i promise i’ll get around to it ^^;

(worm theory) actually the noblesse worm died because it had so much knowledge so ratio cant be—

he’s a new worm. aha’s second worm. and, the first worm didnt die because it had too much knowledge, it died because aha took its power away.

do you ship (xyz) / how do you feel about (ship)?

probably sure + fine. i can pretty much get behind anything, i’m a multishipper, fine with poly and switching and whatever. the exceptions are child x adult and shipping family members in a romantic or sexual way. 👎.

this thing you said was incorrect!

woops! it happens. bring a source if you’re gonna correct me though— not cuz i don’t believe you, but because i love being right and need to be right next time. if this is about a theory, though, well… sometimes theories dont turn out right. its not MY fault hsr wasn’t cool enough to make Something Unto Death the corrupted remnant of Mikhail’s soul. whatever… my theory is just better than canon

you tagged a post with (character) but they’re not in it!

ah man. i mass tagged everything and am gradually going back and fixing it… send me a link to the post and i’ll edit it!

i’ll add more as i think of it…

[eruverse]

I don’t have the best opinion abt Amerus as a ship from my own research. They seemed grandiose (ofc) but I really don’t know if they truly loved each other. Since my focus is Ivan, I’m ofc more confident about his side of things, and excepting the 90s and some years before it, I’m inclined to say he never truly likes Alfred. As in, liking Alfred for what he sincerely is.

Their first meetings were amicable but I would say Ivan was quite detached? He had his priorities in other nations after all. He was indeed aware of Alfred’s budding charisma and that he found him quite attractive, but Alfred was still more of a child even though Ivan did treat him capable of dealing with the burdens on his shoulders. Ivan is old world, so I think he really made a distinction with Alfred, who isn’t. Ivan is pretty young amongst his cohort in Europe but compared to Alfred he is his own pretty different level.

The rest of things tell on themselves. Ivan and Alfred have a lot of differences, and the more they go the more different they are, and… opposites don’t always attract. Extreme opposites WILL repel each other hard. I don’t mean that there have never been sparks of attraction but are those enough to make them stay together? Well, obviously no. Whatever this is that they have often just make them want to beat each other up and be done with it. And the thing is that I think Ivan never actually wishes for a relationship that’s an equivalent to a minefield. He can be adventurous but all he ultimately wants is safety, safety. Stability. For someone who seems to be wishing for everything big he is also incredibly simple at the core of it. I don’t think Alfred can give him that. He can like Alfred (and he def has, once), but if he doesn’t think they can be together, would he even pursue that? Liking someone and wanting to be in a relationship with them are quite different matters.

I think Ivan would sometimes imagine about what life would be like if he is more like Alfred, and if he is closer to Alfred in more ways than one. But Ivan protects his own heart like a zealot, because it is weak. With every wish and expectation of love (even simple acceptance) comes neglect and rejection and betrayal. If, despite how overwhelming he can be outside, he is wary, he is even more wary when his own heart is involved. He doesn’t easily trust people especially people who are a bit too different, people he cannot understand. He would rather stay in hell that he knows inside out than trying for heaven he can’t even comprehend, because this heaven might be hiding even worse hell. Despite how beautiful looking that heaven is. Heaven is out of reach, anyway. Therefore it wouldn’t be one.

But things always come in duality. The more strongly Ivan fights things, the more they often attract him. That is true. With thicker walls he erects around his heart the more desperate he is for what is ‘outside’, even if he built those walls precisely because the ‘outside’ hurts. He can and will obsess over them; after all, he is not without love. And when he loves, it is fervent and potent. His desires for warm embraces constantly battle with his desire for isolation due to fear and distrust.

And Alfred. There are a gazillion reasons why Ivan wouldn’t trust someone like him. Ivan is a cynic skeptic and he believes everyone is full of bullshit like he is, so he thinks Alfred, who claims to be, well, anything but bullshit, is too good to be true. And Ivan can see through him (he is convinced). He keeps testing and testing Alfred to see if he would buckle. After all, anyone who shines brighter would be producing even darker shadow. But Alfred is so good at convincing people Ivan sometimes can see himself being convinced. At some points, he even was! However, most of the time, it’s not what Alfred truly is that interests him. The boy at the core. Instead, it’s the tenacity. The raw passion almost; the lengths Alfred would go through to make a man that he ‘is’. Not the content of his idealism exactly (now that he knows it’s mostly bullshit), but the drive in which he commits himself to even if he has to destroy himself. And the result of it all; oh, that’s his favorite part. The power he’s amassed. Who’s not going to love it? Alfred is very good at what he does, it is enviable.

And I think that’s what he would tell Alfred: no one would love you as you truly are. You know it, and that is why you keep presenting everyone else the image they would like to see from you instead. What would you be without your power?

Alfred would spit back: aren’t you just projecting on me?

Ivan would smile. Perhaps tilt his head a bit, knowingly, and Alfred would sigh loudly and walk away.

They can see each other, sometimes too well. But what attract them to each other aren’t enough to make them stay together.

[squid-ink-symphony]

hey i saw a post where you were talking about ships.. Uh.

callie x agent 3.

discuss.

please..

we need all the exposure we can get there are 5 of us.

we are very lonely.

NO BUT LIKE I LOVE THIS SHIP

ALONG WITH 4 X MARIE

LIKE IVE SEEN CALLIE AND AGENT 3 ART BEFORE AND ITS LITERALLY SO GOOD

i didnt wanna mention idol x agent ships in my post cuz sometimes ppl get all defensive about it like "erm well actually the agent is canonically a child and-" shut up. shut. up. they are whatever age you want them to be. they are literally a self insert for the player. plenty of ppl have agent ocs who are adults. it just varies from person to person and their headcanons.

but then i got an ask (that i already deleted) accusing me of being a proshipper bcuz apparently 3 x neo 3 is problematic bcuz its "power imbalance?" and like.. ig yeah that could be an issue irl w ur boss taking advantage of u. but like..... thats.... clearly not what im talking about???

so may as well discuss idol x agent ships as well lol

3 x callie is like. top tier. its so good. like you just know 3 and callie would goof around together. especially the splat 1 version of 3??? like their dynamic would be top tier. and i just know 3 would whisper stuff to callie and they would giggle about it and refuse to tell anyone else what they are laughing about. and i am always a rarepair enjoyer. like. its so good. (i ship callie x marina x pearl so you know im masochistic when it comes to my ships)

AND 4 X MARIE??? i know this one is a bit more well known but i love it. i dont know if i would ship my main agent 4 with my main interpretation of marie, but like another version of them? yes. it works so well. marie is literally in love w 4.

BUT OK ANOTHER RAREPAIR: 4 x callie. i know everyone loves 3 x 8 cuz blah blah 8 beat up mind controlled 3. but ??? 4 beat up mind controlled callie and we got NOTHING from the fandom. im mostly a 4 x 8 shipper at heart but this is another one i rlly like. i just know 4 would try to show off by picking smth heavy up or doing some cool trick only to fail miserably. and callie would be able to do it first try.

and i have even more opinions on different idol ships and combos but uhh thats for another day when someone wants to listen to my ramblings lol

anyway in conclusion i love rarepairs and pretty much every splat ship so yeah feel free to talk to me about them any time. i love figuring out character dynamics and all that. also everyone has such good designs everyone looks good together. also just like. non romantic pairs as well. like ppl who have sibling dynamics. ppl who are clearly in a qpr. ppl who are besties. apprentice and mentor dynamics. i just think every splat character is so interesting on their own that pretty much every combination is top tier. and like. things dont have to mutually exclusive when it comes to relationships. im a multipshipper.

and i think the same goes for other dynamics. like in my mind one version of neo 3 and 3, 3 sees neo like a younger sibling and spoils them and doent want what happened to 3 to happen to neo. in another version 3 sees neo like a younger version of them and tries to toughen them up and neo sees it as unfair and there is angst while 3 has to confront everything they went thru and if it was even fair for them to have gone thru it. cuz in their mind ofc its ok to do this to neo, its what 3 did to become the way they are. in another version they are just besties. in another version they are dating. in another version they have a competitive love/hate relationship and argue a lot about whos better.

LIKE THINGS DONT HAVE TO JUST BE ONE WAY!! i like exploring different stuff and seeing everyones takes on them!!!!!

so yeah come talk to me about splat characters im very normal i swear :)))

[mackmp3]

002 for Crowley from good omens? if you want/im not too late and someone's beaten me to it

OMG THANK YOUUUUUUUUUU hehe no no one else has asked yet <3

how i feel about this character -

where to even begin??? he means so much to me, like i love him so much and also admire him greatly but also can see when he's doing Not The Healthiest and oughhhh i think i understand what he's doing and why he does things & i sort of find him relatable in kinda of... not major ways?? like i've said this before but he's like a massive dork trying to be cool which is definitely something i can relate to, & the whole standing-outside-the-bookshop-waiting-for-aziraphale in the final fifteen, that is something i would do. - & HIS GENDERRRR and i love his funny little things, his collection of Soul Music in the book, the bullet-hole stickers in the bentley window, how he finds Thee Most Ridiculous outfits to wear and pulls it off flawlessly no one questions a thing, asks Aziraphale to come look at a graveyard in the middle of the night with him, let Zira have his deserts, follows him around the neighbourhood on errands, goes to the movies by himself when he's sulking, drives through a wall of hellfire even though half an hour earlier he was going to presumably teleport to alpha centauri, and all his little moments in the book that just make me love him so so so so much and oh dear that's a long sentence isn't it. lots of love for the man(or otherwise)-shaped being. yeah. hehe

all the people i ship romantically with this character -

can literally only be Aziraphale there is no one else

non-romantic otp for this character -

ngl i think Crowley & Beelzebub were good friends as some point & i think that gets overlooked a bit BUT Crowley and Muriel :D Crowley is very Cool Older Sibling in a way that complements Muriel perfectly

unpopular opinion -

i think the 'oh he has snake eyes he can't see that stars' hc is very dumb and bad. ofc he can see the stars what are you talking about just cos david can't see through contacts & dark glasses IN THE BOOK IT SPECIFICALLy says that demon can see really well in the dark. i think people just like the angst of that one but honestly i think it doesn't add anything to the story & the guys been through enough you don't need to keep piling on additional angst & trauma yknow

otp -

as mentioned before can literally only be Aziraphale, there is no chance of this guy ever having feelings for anyone else hehe

crossover ship (making this platonically)-

i think he'd have great fun with Donna Noble from doctor who. not just because david tennant character but THINK ABOUT IT. Donna is snarky in a loving way and won't take any shit but will always have a laugh and has so much love to give and is so funny & they're both a liiitle bit bitchy in an endearing way & Crowley would LOVE that, they'd be great together oughhhhhhh i just thought of this while i was reading the question this has never occured to me before but Donna & Crowley would be so much fun together heheeeee

headcanon fact -

my headcanon for Crowley is that he smoked for a really long time, long thin cigarettes, for the Aesthetics and general Cool Person Vibes, but also because it's yknow a vice & is bad for you but people like it & do it anyways. (and not ad for him cos a. demon and b. can;t get sick) he'd sit there in a seductive cloud of smoke as Aziraphale pointedly coughed and complained about the smell of smoke getting into the books. he only gave it up when you stopped being able to smoke in restaurants.

also (it's technically canon and i wrote a little fic about this but anyways) i think Crowley does like reading & does read books but he really likes the kind of books Aziraphale thinks are Beneath Him, like fantasy & sci fi & spy novels, same as he likes sitcoms.

look at her she's so silly hehe <33

[starry-skies-116]

Update on my opinions tbh:

I don't really like Wyler all that much tbh if we're talking romance between them... Wenclair is a great ship but to be honest I don't really ship them romantically- I think Enid and Wednesday make a great QPR pairing, to specify- their interactions seemed much more authentic and full of trust than Wednesday's with Xavier's (and Enid and Tyler treating Wednesday like a human being instead of a nutcase/psychology experiment), but the coffee shop scene where Wednesday and Tyler first met was pretty cute!

Ofc they are BOTH pretty bad in terms of morality (Tyler being the *SPOILER* and Wednesday dropping a school of piranhas into a pool and attempting murder), but I just don't think I'd like them together as a couple all that much- not because I don't think they're compatible, but I don't think Wednesday would like or trust Tyler enough after he (if I'm correct in remembering what happened in the final episode of S1) tried to kill Wednesday.

She has every reason to. And also, c'mon- has she EVER shown an interest in romance or romantic attraction that alloromantic people would have towards ANYONE in this show at all? Like, this is going to be Mileven vs Byler discourse all over again, to be perfectly honest- anyone can ship what they wish, but I want this to be clear:

I have little opinion on the ships and their clashing discourse, though I find those I am favored towards cute and romantic. I'm more engaged in the plot- both for Stranger Things and Wednesday. And no matter what, the writers have the final say, and we're all just going to need to accept that and write our own AU's without bothering or harassing anyone.

***

But anyways people who headcanon sapphic/bi oriented grey aroace Wednesday who has no interest in romantic let alone sexual relations wya-

And also FUCK Ms. Thornhill. All my homies hate Ms. Thornhill. And I hope Xavier of all people never gets into a relationship with Wednesday- it just wouldn't work out.

[deafeninggardenerpanda]

Sorry if this is more of a redundant question or related to one that you already did, but what is your opinion on people claiming that ships with little evidence or up to interpretation are "canon"?

I believe you mentioned this somewhat with FranFlam, but what about with other ships that you like where this seems to be common with like Metadede? Or is it the case of "it's fine as long as they aren't attacking people who think otherwise"?

under the cut! nah totally valid q anon i love talking about stuff like this:

tbh i think kirby is just a series that should not have romance in it at all. innocent things like ribbon and kirby in 64 is like fine because i personally dont take kid relationships too seriously but like anything else i just dont think its the place for it. for metadede in particular, ofc i love shipping and i like to scream with other shippers and pick out things and see it in a shippy context but i absolutely dont think metadede is canon, will ever be canon, or even particularly Should be canon actually. im just gonna stick to metadede and franflam like your examples for this because you dont really see people trying to claim any particular (fanon) m/f ship as canon in this fandom but hey even tho i think a lot of us can agree nintendo makes some great games, nintendo is also a big soulless corporation that does not care about us. if youre someone desperate to find a cake in the crumbs on the floor in terms of canon main/major character queer rep, anything nintendo is absolutely not the place for that

to answer your question, that sums up how i feel about other people who try to make canon ship claims too. i try to think the best of people because the lines get really blurred when a lot of people just like making jokes about ships being canon vs Actually genuinely thinking that, but for anyone who legitimately does try to push their ship as canon its just kinda like Mmmm. that gets a thumbs down from me... its not like problematic in of itself (unless you try to claim that people who dont like the ship are homophobic by default or something. youre getting thrown in the grain silo and you probably need to go outside) so like technically i guess i dont care, but i sure do think its obnoxious as hell and also absolutely REEKS of "FRIENDS dont DO that!! people who arent dating dont DO that!!!!! so they must be dating!!!!" and then the thing in question is the two characters like holding hands sometimes. of course theres something to be said about Writer intent but cmon this is a series where people kiss each other on the lips platonically all the time i cannot take canon ship claims seriously. why is so much of peoples worth in a ship staked in whether its "canon" anyways? it just comes off as wanting a reason to lord over others why a certain ship is better than everyone elses. unless two characters make out in a cutscene complete with blushing afterwards prefaced by a lot of romantic tension through the entire game previously its not canon. thats my hot take lol. we have a rare series where canon romance isnt in your face and shoved down your throat every moment and yet some bad folks in the fandom will try to do that for you still. unbelievable

[sparklywatercolors]

hi! got recommended a post of yours asking if anyone wants to know about your relationship with ivan? ik nothing about the character so I'd love to know about them, if you feel like sharing ofc

kicking my legs screaming thank you so much for reaching out to me about this! My apologies for like taking forever to get back to you on this. (My brain decided to have a meltdown and make me leave Tumblr for like a week). (Thanks brain 🗿). Anyways hello there!

So I self ship with Ivan. He's my baby. I've had like a crush on him for the last 12 years. And yes I made ship art and wrote short stories on it. I'm that down bad. But currently as of 2023, the story is very like cottage core. It's a very soft but very intense relationship. My persona Zoryana / Zorya or Zori is a lot more bold than the irl version of myself so they say it how it is a lot. But at first they are very shy towards Ivan like if he looks at them, oh lord they're analyzing what that smile meant for a WEEK to their friends and to their diary. They're down bad.

It's a very like soft and healing relationship in my opinion. They both have suffered in some ways and can also relate to each other on certain aspects of Slavic culture. Even though they don't really talk about it at all. But they're supportive of each other.

It's a very soft and cute self ship. Think like cottagecore (but without the terfs that have tried to claim it 💀🗿).

Also in my real life if my friends call Ivan my crush I correct them and go "ahem that's my husband, try again" (I'm just messing with them I'm not mad or anything XD).

(also Ivan is from Hetalia he's Russia lol)

[this-is-krikkit]

Oi Krikkit 💜

For the new ask game you reblogged, what do you want to tell us about Levi & also Jean ?

😘

hey Val, thanks for the ask, sorry it took a while things got busy. also this got long so i'm putting a read more link lol

Levi

favorite thing about him: his height. i'm not kidding, having such a badass strong male main character be just a Smol Boi is amazing to me, and it's the first time i see it in such a complicated character. not to mention it goes really well with my hc that he's trans, so FUCK YES SHORTY BABY.

least favorite thing about him: his clean freak habits if i absolutely have to pick something?

favorite line: "right here," when he calls hange an abnormal, because i'm a dumb shipper (also bc my mind lives in the gutter so i love these two words in his mouth)

brOTP: eruri

OTP: levihan and erurihan, which may sound contradictory with my brotp. the thing is i can't picture levi and erwin in a relationship with each other without hange being there too. i just.. it's kinda boring to me 😬 i hope that doesn't offend anyone (esp you since i know you ship them hon), and it can change from fic to fic, but mostly i ship erurihan too much to ship eruri on its own whereas it's not a problem at all for levihan (or eruhan. i think im just too in love with hange oops)

nOTP: ereri 🤮

random headcanon: his kink is to be called yours in bed. like he wants to feel owned, not in a sub/sex slave kind of way (although at times that too) but just in a general wanting to be wanted way, yk? dude was born in secret and hidden in a brothel until his mom died, then harshly trained and given up by kenny when he was deemed strong enough, then everyone he loved died like flies around him. i think he longs to belong to someone who wants him bad enough to never want to let go, and ofc i think that someone is hange (+/- erwin).

unpopular opinion: he's a huge bottom. idk if it's really unpopular, but i see sooooo many fics with him being a top and i could see it happening in a certain setting, but that's not my main idea of him, esp not in the beginning of a relationship. i think it would take months for hange (+/- erwin) to make him feel confident enough in his feelings and skin to try it, and i absolutely love to imagine him being so flustered about it first because he's so out of his comfort zone taking the reigns during sex.

song i associate with him: castle of glass by linkin park. i already told you how levihan that song is, but i initially thought of post-caon levi when i first heard it. he's got nothing left and he's nothing but a broken shell (in his mind, anyway) in a broken world, which is very close to the lyrics and general tone of that song imo

favorite picture of him: when he realized hange didn't die in the colossal titan explosion and just saved his ass 🥰

Jean is not a character i care much about, i'm kinda neutral about him. can i do Armin instead? (that's what she said)

Armin

favorite thing about him: he's a dreamer, which makes him smart not only in the traditional sense and his strategic abilities, but also in the sense that he's driven by hope and curiosity. he's inquisitive but cautious, he's thirsty for knowledge and driven by it even when he's shaking with fear and that's something i understand, love and admire in any character/person.

least favorite thing about him: he was a bit too whiney in early episodes, which is why it took me a while to like him.

favorite line: "we’re going to explore the outside world someday, right?" my lil dreamer 🥹

brOTP: mikasa

OTP: i don't think i romantically ship him with anyone? at one point it was mikasa, now i just don't really care

nOTP: annie 🫣

random headcanon: he has a crush on hange! erwin was a mentor and he admired him as a strong and smart leader, but hange is a different kind of smart and i can easily imagine armin falling for their giant brain. i hc that armin spent a lot of time with them in their lab exchanging theories about the world outside, once he overcame his initial fear of how intense they can get. when hange appoints him next commander before their sacrifice, it betrays a deep connection the two of them must have had during the time gap (one more reason to hate it in my love/hate relationship to it btw!), when hange must have been preparing him for the position for years (and i absolutely love to imagine a flustered armin trying to follow hange's train of thoughts and lessons while trying to hide his hearteyes for them hehe)

unpopular opinion: i don't think him and annie fit well together at all. i agree that they had feelings for each other bc it's canon so i can't really argue with it, but i don't see them making it in a healthy relationship in post canon. feel free to send me armin x annie fics to change my mind?

song i associate with him: as it was - harry styles, i feel it fits his general vibe

favorite picture of him: sorry to be a normie but yeah Ocean Armin it is

[wiser-girl]

⚡️ 👾 🧨 <3

⚡️: have you ever blocked a mutual for something? if so, what for? I don't think so? Definitely unfollowed people ofc but honestly I don't really block people, I just don't feel the need to most of the time (obviously if someone started posting like terfy shit or something I would but thankfully that hasn't happened). I have unfollowed mutuals who've made DNI posts that I apply to so I just quietly unfollow, don't want to cause a fuss

👾 : what’s the funniest/stupidest discourse you’ve ever been a part of? I avoid discourse like the plague honestly, maybe me being a big Steve/Eddie/Steddie fan bc that doesn't seem to be a very popular opinion among most bylers (sometimes for valid reasons, sometimes I think y'all just hate popular ships) so maybe defending them but I'm not gonna go into anyone's asks about it. I'm sure back in like 2017 I did some stupid shit that I don't remember lmao. WAIT OH MY GOD OK I JUST REMEMBERED I JOINED TUMBLR RIGHT AROUND WHEN S4 OF SHERLOCK WAS AIRING AND I REMEMBER DEFENDING THE SHERLOLLY I LOVE YOU SCENE WITH MY LIFE LIKE GIRL PLEASE YOU ARE 13 AND LACK ANY MEDIA LITERACY BC YOU HAVE A CRUSH ON BENNY C STOP

🧨 : is there a specific fandom that you’d say you have bad experiences with?

and if I said Swifties bc sometimes y'all can be so gatekeepy to new fans it's painful and also frankly some of the anti-****** stuff on here is just straight up homophobia ANYWAY MOSTLY LOVE IT THOUGH OF COURSE

ask game tumblr edition <3

[euyrdice]

hi !!! im happy to see ur response n dw about taking ur time school has just started for me too so i dont anticipate being too free myself!! btw i loved ur izuki hes very cute regardless ^O^ im gonna reply kinda out of order hope its ok!! also dw at all i feel ur personally very insightful too n as for writing u shdnt avoid ur personal taste n opinions !!

i think since u know what direction u want u shd definitely lean into this angle of having a morally grey villain or someone who portrays them as such or may not even be aware of either extent or their morality! either ways its a rlly good thing to know what u want and how u want to express ideas!! ^W^ no matter what type of writing clarity is important

also mm yea personally i dont read a lot of stories w villains i realised? i like tokusatsu where theres a lot clearer good vs bad but i havent watched a lot of the recent entries w more moral ambiguity so i couldnt offer much on a personal front. i guess i like them because theyre evil n nasty n interesting sometimes n like also i like magneto too!! :D i find i pesonally agree w his ideas but i also think how different writers portray magneto, his beliefs, background and try to skew them rlly reflects interestingly on how they view the ideas he represents, just off topic but neat stuff.

although i do think yea in writing n commentary villains can serve actually a rlly important role in reflecting peoples opinions, biases ect. back on them ah but thats getting off topic

in response about the enemies to friendsish thing actually i encountered the same issue!!! :DDD albeit it was cough a knb ship (i dont think anyone knows what it is) so if i may offer my personal insight i think having obv similarities always works. for me i found my two characters were more similar than theyd liked to admit but when in their usual environments surrounded by their peers they were super unlikely to interact so i put them in a different environment! sometimes what u need is smth to kickstart their interest in each other! an encounter that exposes smth worth talking about. like for me the more villainous character realises the more "heroic" character is actually more than a boring farce n finds an opportunity to corrupt him n the heroic character wants to resist this but himself returns because of the villains intelligence n their similar points. it leads them to enter a sort of cat n mouse game into each others minds. but thats cuz my characters i was working w were more intellectual

BUTTT the gist is basically ur allowed to do a little deus ex machina or have smth thats out of their control give them the opportunity to choose to interact n stuff. not all the time ofc important advancements n influence shd be made frm autonomous actions of the characters but a little coincidence never hurts!

ive briefly dipped my toes in writing before but ive never had enough clarity to write anything good tbh!! but i do like helping others edit if i can!!

anyways it means so much that i can give u something to chew on tbh!! ^w^ ur inquisitive nature is lovely! also yes itll always be okay to pop in !!

hi lab!!!! how r u!!!! thank u for this reply!!!! 

i for sure get that about liking clearer bad/evil characters!! i really can’t think of any i also don’t read a lot of villain stories i realize! but for knb hanamiya is so hard for me to look away from he’s so funny and i really wanna know why he’s the way he is dhjdshfj. magneto!!!! love that ur a comic fan!!!!! my last url was eriklehnsherrgf hes the best heh. ooo that’s really interesting about different ways writers portray him and his beliefs representing their own views… i also think our writing and thoughts on characters and which we’re drawn to and which we dislike can reflect a lot, especially biases. i really like talking about it; why myself and others are drawn to certain characters and dislike others… what do we find in them and what are we looking for. and our own art we create is so often a self-portrait, right?

a knb ship oooooo! are you writing a fic for them? so u ARE a writer!!!!! or a future writer!!! fdjfdfgjh but that sounds so cool lab! i really like the detail about how in their usual environments w friends they’re unlikely to interact despite being quite similar… i don’t know how to articulate it but i really find this interesting in fiction/media… two people who could have a close relationship if they were just to go outside of their usual environment, and the significant role being surrounded by their peers in said environment plays. and then something pushes them out of the familiar, often by force, and our story begins, right? i love the “an encounter that exposes something worth talking about” line, so lovely. something worth talking about!

much of it is about change, and putting your characters in situations that force change, and thus character development? it’ll be fun to see what the new situation/environment brings out in your characters, what they bring out in one another when they’re finally able to interact alone. i wonder if there are things only the other person can bring out in themselves. 

i love characters seeing one another in a different light, realizing there's more to the person they disliked then originally thought. ESPECIALLY when its the more villainous character seeing something that draws them into their heroic counterpart. OO THE OPPORTUNITY TO CORRUPT HIM im getting nervous nd excited!! so theres a unignorable interest there on the villianous characters side!! i wonder what makes them want to corrupt the “heroic” character!! a more sort of twisted, self-interested and self-indulgent desire to bring out something darker in them or more genuine interest in the heroic character.. or both or something else?… hm!!!!

wait wait is one of them hanamiya? the intelligence and want to corrupt part made me think of him. teppei and hanamiya? dfjhjsdf anyways u dont need to tell me anything this just sounds so so cool and i love how deeply and intentionally you’ve thought about their relationship. thank you for sharing your plans with me, really wonderful and im excited for how it comes along!!!!

yeah!!!! you've given me a lot to think ab!! giving them a little push to interact.....

really love talking with u, i genuinely feel like i learn a lot from you wow. as always, thank you for your thoughts and kind words!!! and thank you for your encouragement ab my work!!! always value your feedback and opinion on things, you’re so very articulate and open-minded. 

i hope u’ve had/have a good day!!!! 🌟💌

[oivsyo]

Do you like NejiHina more than NejiTen and NaruHina? NGL I hate those two ships sooooooo much I literally throw my computer across the room whenever the fan art pops up.

Good day!

First of all I need to apologize for it took me so long to reply.

Anyway I‘ve been waiting for a question like this, ahaha.

The short answer is yes, i do like NejiHina more than both NejiTen and NaruHina.

No, it doesn’t mean that I hate NaruHina and NejiTen. Hatred is too strong an emotion, and there are not many things in my life that I really hate and fictional ships are definitely not on the list. Various ships exist and it doesn't trigger or offend me as far as I prefer to concentrate on things/ships that I like.

However I do not “like” them either, because I’m not a multishipper and these ships don't give me the emotions, inspiration I want to receive from the shipping experience. (Compared with NejiHina that  gives me everything I need).

I prefer to think I’m neutral about NejiTen and NaruHina.

The ships themselves are not bad and don't deserve to be hated. I see many talented artists who create for these ships and I think it is great that the ships inspire other ppl as much as NejiHina inspires me. It’s a good thing that there is a diversity of content for everyone.

If you want to know my more extended opinion about these ships - keep reading.

But ofc I need to warn you that I wrote my honest opinion about the ships and you may not like it if you are a NaruHina or NejiTen shipper. I’m not interested in ship wars as well, so stop reading here if you are not sure you can control yourself.

Dislaimer: when I write that I ”don’t like” something about a ship, it means that either I like these moments more in NejiHina or that I just don’t like some exact things. Don’t like =/= Hate.

There is something about NaruHina and NejiTen that irritates me and makes me uncomfortable. The fans.

It surprised me that NaruHina fans, who have tons of official content, manga, anime, movies, novels, Boruto above everything, are so hostile towards fanships. Like, chill, dudes, your couple IS canon. This fact doesn't make everyone like it and it is natural, but everyone knows it is canon, there is no need to prove it to anyone everywhere. What is even more strange to me is that it seems there are many NaruHina fans who feel threatened? offended? by any other fanships with these characters (other ships with Hinata mostly). Such fans write offensive comments to fanships content creators and 'prohibit' creating it. This attitude is beyond my understanding.

The situation with NejiTen fans is quite the contrary but the result is the same. NejiTen is not canon, characters don't even have any canonical base for shipping except being members of the same team. But the fans keep insisting it is canon, mentioning it as a common knowledge under every post with Neji (I'm exaggerating, but I see such comments quite often). 

Maybe I don't understand something in this life, but fans act like the 'canon' tag automatically makes the ship better. I thought that the ship is good enough if it makes you happy, if it inspires you to create, gives you the emotional experience that you need.

Being canon doesn't make everyone like the ship. Not being a canon doesn't make the ship bad. Isn't it like this? Can everyone just chill and enjoy things that make them happy and share this happiness with those who have the same preferences?

I'm creating for NejiHina that is part of the Naruto fandom long enough to make my own opinion. If I get the hate/anti comment for my NejiHina arts telling how gross this ship is in 98% the one who wrote it is a NaruHina or a NejiTen shipper :) or they ship Neji in Male x Male ships. Or they hate Hinata. Yes, I'm curious enough to take a look at accs that write such comments and it is not difficult to figure out which ship they like. In most cases righteous hate is only ship war mimicking the high morality :)

There are two points that NaruHina and NejiTen have in common that make both ships not appealing for me.

First is how both ships deal with the Hyūga clan. There are two variants. In the first one the problem of the Hyūga clan wouldn't be solved bc both characters that are supposed to deal with it, who have authority to change their clan for better, just flee the clan shifting the responsibility to Hanabi alone. But then what was the point of Neji's high-flown speeches during the chunin exams? Why did Hinata express her sympathy and understanding for him if in the end they both just give up on it?

Besides, I highly doubt that Hanabi can deal with it alone. I don’t believe that the clan’s problem can be solved that easily and that Hanabi will be enough for it. I mean, if the conflict can be solved with Hanabi saying ‘hmmm, let’s just ban the seal and the clan will live happily!” and the clan’s council will be like “oh, ok, thanks for suggesting this idea!” then it is a shitty conflict that is based on that the clan’s leaders as well as Konoha leaders are stupid or purposevly evil. I like to think that things are more complicated and that there is no easy way to solve it. That’s why all statements that it was 12 year old Naruto and his passionate speeches that changed the clan and made them solve their many centuries conflict overnight just make me smile sympathetically.

The other variant of this plot implies the end of the Hyūga clan. I know that there are many ppl in the fandom who hate the Hyūga clan, but I'm not one of those ppl and I see a huge potential for a story with Hyūgas. So I find it quite sad and pointless, because Hyūgas together with Uchihas contributed to making Konoha and the country of Fire the most powerful country. Not to mention that the clan wasn't developed enough. Their obvious setup as imba medic nins was completely ignored. Their combat abilities were downgraded as well for plot’s purposes. Is it a sly plan to get rid of ancient clans? Only that the Uchiha clan was massacred and the Hyūga clan will just go extinct , losing their doujutsu. This is actually a cool plot twist that may result in the political conflict between the clan and Konoha, tho in this plot I prefer Hyūgas standing as one and living on as a powerful clan we were told they are.

I started to simp for the Hyūga clan only more than a year ago, when I deepened into all canon and filler moments with them, after I filled the plot holes with headcanons and background story and invented Hyūga original characters to make the clan more 'alive'. However I always wanted to see Hinata together with Neji (or with Hanabi if Neji is dead) changing and reforming the clan for better. I was rooting for the full-scale arc about it. And I never got it in the canon, so for me the Hyūga clan conflict was not solved. I also want to see Hinata as a Hyūga head and matriarch. This would be a great final point for her.

The second weak spot of both ships for me is that both Neji and Hinata are of noble origin and they have a family - a clan that implies traditions, heritage and many other things that both Naruto and TenTen, orphans and low-borns, are not familiar with. And I see here some differences in life values and views that are difficult to overcome.

Oh, I above everything don’t find these ships aesthetically appealing either. NaruHina is too colorful, I prefer calmer and more exquisite color combinations. While NejiTen is the opposite, they are both too ordinary and neutral and their couple is visually nondescript.

NaruHina

I respect NaruHina being canon, I do not reject the fact Kishimoto made them a couple. I even think that with a proper development they would be a nice and attractive canon couple.

Personally for me the way the ship was built up is forced and clamsy. Like, seriously, there were 500+chapters of manga, Hinata nearly committing scide 2 times, one ignored confession, Neji dead, a movie where Hanabi was kidnapped, her eyes torn out, the whole world on the brink of destruction, a bunch of “out-of-nowhere” flashbacks and a genjutsu to make Naruto realize that Hinata likes him and he likes her. It doesn't sound like a well-written and reasonable lovestory for me, I can’t believe in it.

I do not like how the ship develops Hinata as a character and where the ship leads her (I won’t mention the Hyūga clan that was wasted one more time). I see a greater potential in her than being a MC girlfriend whose only function in the plot is to remind how important MC is. Their relationship is based on Hinata blindly fangirling Naruto, not seeing other ppl around her who support her (like Shino, Kiba, Neji, Hanabi, Kurenai) and only waiting for him to notice her. And she is ready to waste her life for it, literally. This is not what I consider an equal romantic partnership and I don't like the whole idea.

One more thing that I don't like in NaruHina is that I don't feel that Hinata is a special person for Naruto. Naruto is a man who cares about everyone, it is his basic character trait. And Hinata will never be the number one for Naruto. It will always be Sasuke, Sakura, Konoha, maybe his children (I’m not sure bc I haven’t watched Boruto), Gaara, Kakashi, Iruka, Konohamaru… whoever but never Hinata. It seems to me that Hinata differs from, for example, Shikamaru only with the fact they are married and she gave birth to his children.

Hinata was deprived of a loving full family, her mother died, her father was not the best warm-hearted and sympathetic father and he put the clan’s matters above his daughters, she was forced to rival Hanabi. And as an adult, as a wife Hinata gets the same. She can find her happiness in children, but is it enough? It's a difficult topic to discuss, and I see that there may be different opinions as usual. I’m just saying that I personally don’t like what NaruHina gives to Hinata.

Probably Naruto and Hinata had some chances if they were developed as a couple and had moments with each other like in s1, but it never happened. In my opinion the chūnin arc did more for NaruHina development than the rest of the story up till today. In Shippuden and later Hinata was stopped in her development and I don’t see her as a person, but only as a functional element that says and does what is needed for the plot. I don’t blame Hinata for this (she is a fictional character after all), it's bad writing to blame. And I don't even blame Kishi only for this, it seems to me he was forced to change the tone of narration starting from Shippuden.

NejiTen

This one is a more interesting case, bc ..... it was actually my first ship =)

This moment is the only one in the canon and in the fillers that shows interaction between Neji and TenTen that can be interpreted as slightly romantic and exactly this moment was the reason why I started to ship them (But then I grew old, rewatched Naruto and movies and realised that Neji is just a gentleman with all female characters. Except Ino, lol.)

Anyway, first things first.

I was 13-14 years old, I watched Naruto s1 and the beginning of Shippuden (Gaara rescue arc, the moment on the screnshot above) and I got access to the Internet. There I learned about 'shipping' and discovered 'fanfiction'. Guess what happened next. Neji was my fav character in Naruto so I was full of intention to find the best couple for him. I didn't like Male x Male ships back then, and even today such ships for Neji are not my cup of tea, so I needed a girl for him. There were two girls around him in the canon - TenTen and Hinata. I did not think much and chose TenTen first because of the moment above. She seemed to be such an obvious variant. They are teammates and there should be a couple in every team, right? So I started googling and reading fanfiction. But it didn't last long. I got bored with excessive OOC and standard romantic plots that could be written about any ship. There was nothing personal and unique about these stories.

And I came across a NejiTen fic where NejiHina was the secondary ship and I loved this secondary ship more than the main. It was so much more reasonable, sensual and tender. I tried more NejiHina fics and it was absolutely different level of storytelling. It is not that I had any prejudices towards NejiHina before, but it were amazing arts and fanfiction that made me take a closer look at them and showed the full potential of this ship. So, from that moment on, NejiHina turned out to be the love of life and here we are :)

Fun fact, but when I returned to Naruto 1,5 year ago and rewatched it, I saw more chemistry between TenTen and Lee. Rock Lee SD is full of cute moments with them, showing how they care about each other. I don’t ship LeeTen, I think there are better candidates for both of them, but I can’t deny that they make a better romantic couple then Neji and TenTen. Well I got carried away again.

There are several moments that make NejiTen not appealing for me.

First one is excessive OOC and canon divergence needed for this ship to happen, bc in canon they don't give a romantic fck about each other, they are just teammates. They don't have any personal moments with one another, there are no conflicts between them or a background story.

Personally I don't consider them to be even close friends, tbh, I think they are colleagues, but this actually doesn't matter.

There are two versions of NejiTen - either Neji is in love with TenTen, but I personally can't imagine it without making him OOC bc there were not even hints that he has any feelings or at least shows some interest for TenTen (and this is totally fine if you, the one who reads this, can imagine it. This is how the shipping works).

The second version is TenTen in love with Neji. But I don't see it being in her character as well. Moreover it makes her just like Sakura and Hinata and I don't like this. TenTen is awesome and unique right because she doesn't have any crushes. She is stubborn and she works hard to become strong just because she enjoys it and not to be noticed by her crush. I like that she is free from all this romantic bullshit about boys. A crush on Neji ruins her badassness and uniqueness for me :(

I like TenTen actually, she is kind, supportive, easy-going and cheerfull person. She also has a good sense of humor. And I like that she is independent  and self-confident enough even tho she lacks abilities to be more than avarage-tier shinobi.

I can guess why this ship has so many fans.

First of all, Neji has only two het ship options that are reasonable, they are NejiTen and NejiHina, and NejiTen is not branded as problematic here and there. That’s it.

 Above this, TenTen doesn't have an army of haters, unlike Hinata.

Second, it is so easy to assosiate yourself with TenTen because she is just an ordinary girl without any superpowers, any background story. She is perfect to kin yourself with. And I must admit that I myself have a lot in common with TenTen in comparison with other female characters in Naruto. I can understand that most girls will prefer Neji over Lee, because, well, you know, it’s Neji. He is handsome, noble, talented and has many other attractive traits. While Lee is not attractive, some may think he is ugly, he is too emotional that some ppl think is not manly, he doesn't have any superpowers and even tho he is hardworking, he will never be on level of chakra users. He is kind and caring, but just an ordinary boy. The one who is usually friendzoned speaking irl terms. Such boys are usually remembered closer to the age of 30, when there are already several unsuccessful relationships behind, maybe a divorce and children, and at that moment comes the realization that maybe it was worth giving this caring but not attractive boy a chance? He would carry you in his arms and would put the whole world at your feet. But you chose a cold handsome and now it’s too late.

One more point why I don't like NejiTen is that this relationship gives nothing to both characters. I don't see how they can complement each other. They are too different in things that could have connected them, and are too similar in things the couple is supposed to complement each other. The saying “opposites attract” doesn't work for them.

It seems to me that TenTen may wither with Neji, because he is Hyūga, by nature he is a much more closed and reserved person, and he, in turn, may get tired of her excessive emotionality, playfullness, her too emotional reactions, which are a part of her personality. It will be difficult for TenTen to understand why he cannot cut ties with the clan (and Neji the way I see him will never cut ties with the clan by his own will, only if he is exiled from it for some reason), while there will be no place for her in the clan and Neji would have to choose. And I don't feel that TenTen could be a special person for Neji (as much as Hinata for Naruto), someone for whom he could abbandon the clan, his legacy, one for whom he could sacrifice his life. Both are self-sufficient and independent, and if these traits make them efficient team, that can understand eachother with half words, the same traits make them an incompatible couple.

So, I can't imagine Neji and TenTen in a romantic relationship, being insanely in love with each other, dating, getting married and having children. BUT. I can imagine them as the first sexual partners. I think they would be the best candidates for each other and I support this idea with both my hands. I can see them starting this sort of relationship out of curiosity when they were teenagers to get some experience. They could probably try to date with each other in a romantic way but they didn't succeed so they decided to stay as friends with benefits for some prolonged period of time. Both of them are mentally mature and independent enough for this. And when they meet the one they fell in love with they would just stop it without any drama and remain good teammates as they were before.

Not all relationships, especially the first relationships, should end with love till the grave, with a marriage and children. NejiTen is a perfect ship to show that ppl can remain in good terms after having a sexual relationship. Some ppl are just better as friends and colleagues than a romantic couple.

NejiTen actually takes place in my headcanon and I'm ok with it.

☯️☯️☯️☯️☯️☯️☯️

To sum up, I’d love to say that we all perceive characters and stories through the lens of personal experience, emotional response, background knowledge and imagination. It is natural that there are different ships and interpretations. But   “different” doesn't mean “bad” or “wrong”.

I’m not trying to convince anyone that ship A is bad and ship B is good, I just share my own story and opinion about the ships. So, pls, keep in mind that my opinion doesn't threaten what you like. You are free to ship whatever you want as long it makes your shipper heart bit faster 💜

I would love to see more ppl talking about things they like, sharing ideas, creating content and supporting those who create it and not spreading hate. This will help a lot to make our fandom a better place than it is right now. And we can do it together ✌️ 

[gralunaisland]

what made you ship graylu? Not hate just curious. It would be interesting to see a post discussing why you like them and why they would've been a better endgame couple

My Opinions About GraLu

Warning: this post is long because I go into my history with GraLu. Skip to the part labeled “Why I like GraLu” if that’s all you’re here for!

That’s a fantastic question! Thank you for asking! It’d be nice if I focused a bit more on the pair I actually ship than the one I don’t from time to time.

First of all, hope you don’t mind, idk if anyone actually cares, but I say GraLu, even though I think most people use GrayLu. Either is fine, I just personally like to say GraLu because it feels more like a mash of their names rather than Gray’s name with Lu stuck on the end.

I hadn’t really been planning on a GraLu post because this is an Anti gr//via and Anti juvia blog, and I didn’t want to make it seem like the only reason I hated both of those things was because I shipped Gray and Lucy together. To be honest, my shipping them is really a non-factor in my hatred because I believe those things are plenty hate-worthy by themselves without taking into account another ship. Another reason I wasn’t going to make a GraLu post is that I didn’t want to turn away people who hated on gr///via with me but who didn’t ship my OTP. Hopefully, they can just skip over this post without becoming disillusioned with my Anti posts :D I wouldn’t blame them ofc! To each their own.

But onto my answer to your question! I’ll be kind of hijacking this ask to make sort of a master post about my history with GraLu if you don’t mind.

(Look at the end for some bonus videos and pictures of GraLu!👀)

Before GraLu

I guess I have to start at the beginning.

When I first watched FT when I was about 11, I shipped NaLu like the majority of people. At that age, I wasn’t really scrutinizing lots of the show’s flaws, or Natsu’s and Lucy’s flaws as a ship, and just thought they looked great together because they’re best friends, and boy, wouldn’t I like to have a best friend that I could go on adventures with and work with and be lovers with? They were absolutely end game for me.

But here’s where I prove that GraLu was a non-factor for me in hating gr/////via:

Despite shipping Lucy with Natsu, and despite not shipping Gray with anyone at the time, I absolutely hated juvia’s guts.

From her first fight with Gray, I just couldn’t stand her, and she took away a huge chunk of my enjoyment from the show. Even though I rewatched the show countless times, I skipped the Phantom Lord arc because I detested the arc where she was introduced. Whenever she was on-screen, I’d roll my eyes and suffer until she wasn’t.

In my most recent watch-through last autumn, (where I actually made it all the way to the Avatar arc and deliberately stopped there because I knew how terrible gr///via was about to get, plus the arc after that was just basically garbage anyway), I forced myself to watch Phantom Lord again, though I legit skipped the episode where she fought Gray. Then for the rest of the show, I just skipped through some of her scenes. Not all of them because I needed to refresh my mind on how terrible she is of a character, but enough so I could maintain my sanity and my enjoyment of the anime.

Yes, that sounds so overdramatic, but it’s the truth for me, and I have to be honest.

Anyway, that was all just to show how much, from the beginning, I hated her. I never once shipped gr///via, and I never once liked her. (Well, besides when she had her Rain Woman persona, I wish she’d stayed like that.)

I shouldn’t really go into why I hated her here bc I have a feeling this will be a long post and it was supposed to be about GraLu, but I’ll say why younger me hated her.

I didn’t think about her and her behavior and her relationships as in depth as I do now, but I abhorred her from the beginning because of how she was always bothering Gray, and the fact that she’d shove her chest onto him or glare at girls who talked to him or follow him around when he didn’t know or make creepy Gray-themed stuff either for him or for her…. I couldn’t (and can’t) stand that.

The ship gr///via made absolute zero sense to me even when I was young and dumb, and I hated how Gray had basically no say when it came to their relationship. Even 11 year old me could see how uncomfortable he was, how pushy she was. she annoyed me to no end, and I hoped dearly that Gray wouldn’t have to end up with her. One can take a look at my blog to see a more in-depth look into why I hate her and her popular ship nowadays.

From NaLu to GraLu

I don’t remember exactly when I began to change my mind on whom I shipped with Lucy, but it was a few watch-throughs in, a couple years after my first.

To be very honest, I’m not sure how controversial it is, but I’m a multi-shipper. In animes, I usually have one favorite person whom I then go on and ship with other people separately (not a polyamorous ship). I don’t ship them with everyone, and my multi-shipping doesn’t keep me from shipping people outside my main person, it’s just what I usually do.

I wasn’t a multi-shipper from the beginning, and Fairy Tail was my first anime. But I guess in my later rewatches, I began to ship Lucy with Gray as well. At first it was basically a side ship, but then it became equal to NaLu, and now is my OTP for the show. I think I began to see that Gray had better chemistry with Lucy.

Now, I think it’s less multi-shipping and more of changing whom I ship Lucy with, but I don’t ship Natsu with anyone else. (While I like Lisanna better than I used to, I always thought she was too pushy to be likable when she was a little girl. I was also disappointed in how Mashima handled her story because it just sort of seemed like a contrived way to revive NaLi and NaLu wars which ended up going nowhere.)

Even now, I don’t dislike NaLu. It’ll always have a special place in my heart for being my first ship. But in my most recent rewatch, I was 100x more excited for GraLu moments than NaLu moments. Since GraLu isn’t an endgame ship, it has way fewer moments than the Main Four ships, but that just makes me so much more happy to see them when they occurred.

Plus idk, with Natsu, thanks to Mashima’s taste, there were too many accidental boob-grabs, too many accidentally perverted scenes. Very cheap and perverted “ship moments”. And I think if Mashima really wanted to write their relationship better, he’d have put more effort into delving deeper, because it sort of felt like Natsu was treating her almost the same as all his friends and getting Lucy’s hopes up for nothing. I think Natsu was a tad too dense. But really, I think it’s a solid ship in the terms of best friends to lovers trope.

However, Gray and Lucy has all that best-friendship and more!

Why I like GraLu

Onto the good stuff finally!

Here’s where I’ll actually say some of the stuff that made me first ship GraLu as per your question (I’m really sorry I went into so much depth, it’s just how I roll I guess TvT).

I first noticed their chemistry a while ago, when I saw how Gray let Lucy into his inner circle quite easily. Even though Gray can be ornery with the people around him, even if it’s mostly for fun, he seemed to vibe with Lucy despite her being the new girl around. I thought it was special how he, and the other members of Team Natsu ofc, allowed Lucy to become a close friend. It’s not like he had to become really close to her. He could’ve left the group a long time ago, but instead he stayed and came to care for Lucy deeply.

Tbh, again, I guess I don’t have a great memory lol, but I don’t remember the exact moment I consciously decided that I liked Gray and Lucy together. For Past Me, maybe the best thing I can say is it felt right, it felt natural. They were also basically the best friends to lovers situation, though this time, they were more similar in temperament than wild Natsu and intelligent, confident Lucy.

I’ll say why I like them now that I’m consciously thinking about it.

They are always talking to each other in the background, always whispering to each other their opinions on what was going on. They’re usually on the same wavelength, being both more level headed than Natsu and Happy and sometimes Erza most of the time. I think it shows how comfortable they are with each other and how much they like talking to the other. It shows for Lucy that the first person she likes to opine to is Gray and vice versa.

They also tend to think of plans and the intelligent way of going through things, like how Gray knew Lucy’d figured out the riddle of how to find Mavis’ grave, and how Lucy listened to Gray’s reasoning on what the moon had to do with Deliora’s iced shell. They’re both smart and acknowledge each other’s intelligence and wisdom, even if they also have their silly dumb moments.

Gray loves to read Lucy’s book, even though she doesn’t want anyone to read it, and besides Levy, he seems to be the only person to care and to want to read it. Considering it’s her dream and her passion to write, I find it very telling that Gray is the only guy to appreciate it. He actually likes it too, and wanted to keep reading it and know what happens next. I think Lucy deserves a guy who’ll support her passion.

Gray is also attracted to Lucy’s appearance. I wouldn’t say that’s a super deep reason for shipping them together, but considering how her looks are one of her pride and joys, I think it’s super cute that Gray appreciates it as well. Just another area they agree on haha! A few instances where we see it are during the Tower of Heaven changing scene where he blushes and goes gooey eyed as he sees her and even tells her she looks great after, during the Nirvana Gray-Gemini scene, where he shows he’s interested in her and thinks she’s really cute, also in the Key of the Starry Sky arc where he imagines her in a skimpy outfit and blushes. There’s plenty more of these too!

I also really liked that Nirvana scene because it’s also revealed he thinks while she can be as hot-headed as Erza, she hides her good heart, showing he’s thought about her more deeply than just considering her a casual friend. He even calls her “the whole package” for crying out loud!! And Lucy is shown in that scene that she trusts Gray and his goodness immensely because even though Gemini Gray looks and sounds exactly like him, she knew he couldn’t be the real one because she knows he doesn’t waver between good and evil.

Lucy also trusts Gray a lot over the show, having faith in his strength and his abilities and how he always has his friends’ backs. In a lot of scenes, she goes to him for help, or hides behind him when she’s scared. And in the Avatar arc, even though Gray says all these hurtful things about FT because he’s pretending to be evil, after giving him a slap, she says they’ll always be friends, that they’ll help him with whatever he’s going through, that him renouncing his friends and FT breaks her heart. Unlike with juvia in the Daphne arc, where juvia declares that she’ll believe Gray no matter what and that the FT members are wrong for calling him out for his horrible deeds, Lucy holds him accountable for his actions here, punishing him, not letting him off the hook, but still loving him enough to help him get through his dark place. That’s just such pure love right there.

They care for each other a lot. I think it’s very characteristic of Fairy Tail members, excluuuuding one juvia lockser, but it’s still with big plus in this ship’s favor. How Gray rather die than to give up Lucy to Phantom Lord, how he became uncontrollably angry with Sabertooth when Lucy was beaten by Minerva, how Lucy frets over Gray’s scar, how she’s concerned for him after seeing Deliora. Oh and don’t get me started on the episode where Lucy said she was getting stalked and Gray followed her home to keep her safe!! Ugh that’s goals.

They also joke with each other a lottt. They’re just so comfortable with each other and do things without being too worried about what others think. They realize the other’s shortcomings and flaws (something juvia doesn’t do at all. Gray is perfection incarnate in her eyes). Lucy, despite being the newcomer, was never shy and reserved and afraid of making friends. She from the get-go has been lively and able to go head to head with the boys and be as scary as Erza to shut them up. She never puts on an act, or pretends to be someone she’s not. (Same with Gray). She kicks Gray whenever he strips in her house and always tells him to keep dressed, being his voice of reason in that regard. He on the other hand calls her out sometimes when her vanity gets a little out of control, so he can be reason for her too. They can speak their minds to each other, and being honest to friends and partners is super important.

A bit related to that, Lucy and Gray don’t start off as loving each other. Maybe that’s just because Mashima never wrote them to be set as a couple in canon, though he for sure liked to tease it at times, but the fact that they became best friends first is really important to their chemistry. That’s a requirement I even have for myself, to become best friends with the person I want to date before doing so, because then you can be your real self without being afraid of judgement, and therefore you truly know whom you’re dating. I think that’s a huge virtue with this ship because Gray and Lucy do exactly that. They are the best of friends; they are themselves with each other 100% of the time, they can be real with each other and confide in each other, they enjoy each other’s company. Everything is laid bare, and it’s at that moment where you can really decide if you love someone enough to date, rather than to date to see if you’re compatible.

This heavily contrasts with juvia’s non-relationship with Gray, where from the beginning she told herself she loved him despite not knowing him at all, and then she continued to ignore what he wants and who he is as she tries to shove her “love” onto him, never taking no as an answer and never trying to become friends with him. It was dating or bust for her. From a realistic standpoint, I think most people would want a relationship like Gray’s and Lucy’s than his and juvia’s. Also from the realistic approach, it would make more sense to be friends and then to see the date-able qualities of the person. I don’t believe in love at first sight personally, because is it love when you know nothing about the other person besides their face?

Even from a fictional, writer’s standpoint, I think it’s much more satisfying to see your two characters fall for each other gradually—BOTH of them, mind you. I’ve mentioned this in another post of mine, but a huge reason why gr///via is so unsatisfying, besides the glaringly obvious emotional abuse and blatant lack of chemistry, is that juvia is already at the point where she’s ready to marry Gray and have dozens of babies together from the beginning, and Gray is the only person who has to apparently “fall in love”.

He’s the only one who has to change, who has to meet juvia at her level of obsession. He’s not really given a choice from a writer’s perspective. It’s either severely disappoint the fans, whom you’ve lured into cheering for the ship by promoting it so much even with the label “comedy”, by giving him an actually healthy relationship who’s decidedly NOT her, or make the ship’s fans happy by shoving him into a contrived, toxic relationship. It’s a lose-lose scenario for the author, where on the one hand he’s losing fans of his work, and on the other he’s killing his legitimacy as a good author, but it could have been be avoided by not introducing juvia as the crazed, abusive lover at all. But I digress.

Why they would’ve been a better endgame than gr///via

First of all, nearly anything would’ve been better than gr///via.

But as for GraLu as endgame, besides all the reasons why I think they go great together, I just think Gray would finally be heard being with Lucy. She actually cares for her friends and how they’re feeling. She wants to hear what he has to say and listens to him, shown throughout the show. His voice would finally matter to someone, to her, finally reach someone’s ears, while with juvia, all he says to her goes in one ear and out the other and ends in “I love you so so much, juvia!”

And with Lucy, she’d have a guy who’s more level-headed and steady than Natsu, who uses his head (more often than Natsu at least haha). Someone intelligent and chill whom she can really depend on over the more serious things, and yet someone who has a wild, witty side to spice life up a bit. I think they both do great jobs at balancing each other out and checking the other when the other is getting out of hand. They both appreciate and care for the other, but they don’t do it so much that they’re in love with their own perfect, self-crafted delusion (*cough* like what juvia does).

They would definitely enjoy doing similar things together, like just a lazy day inside with hot tea or coffee and cookies with her writing and him reading and letting her know his thoughts, or going out for a walk during the winter, enjoying the crisp, cool air. I don’t think they’d ever run out of things to say or do, and I feel like whatever they did would be fun as long as they did it together. Those are headcanons ofc, but it’s what I’d imagine their endgame to look like. I can just see it, how happy they’d genuinely make each other.

If only if only…

Closing notes

This is all I can think to say about it for now. There are too many scenes of them caring for each other to really list them all! I might make a sequel post with more to talk about it, but basically I ship them because of their chemistry and the pacing of their relationship and their similarities, while they also have their differences to make each unique, and they genuinely make each other better people just by being close.

Thank you for reading! And thanks again for the ask! And please enjoy the video and pics of my OTP u_u

Here’s one of my favorite scenes of them! And please excuse the dub, I watched FT dubbed since the beginning and fell in love with their voices!

I know these are from the school OVA but love them anyway!

Lookit how happy he is with Lucy! Big smile on both of them u_u

My my, however did juvia’s face get scratched out twice?

I always love this dancing scene for obvious reasons! And just look at the animation; you can't tell me the animators weren't GraLu shippers! It's such a detailed panel and differs from the usual style!