#at least compared to what i was used to being into popular ships in big fandoms in the past

[olderthannetfic]

Of course people are being defensive, Spotify Anon. You rolled into the Fandom Old corner of Tumblr to tell us to examine our biases based on a streaming platform that only half of us even use at all.

Someome compared it to the f/f wank and they're right. If you accuse people of bullshit based on completely ufounded speculation, half of them will block you and the other half will explain to you why you're wrong. And we can't block other people's anons, so you're just going to have to endure a barrage of "this is bullshit and here's why". You asked for this, this is us examining the racial bias in our spotify wrapped and going "huh, it can't show bias if it doesn't exist" or "how does the fact that I listen to weird non-American music you've never heard of say anything about my feelings about the personhood and rights of American popstars I've never heard of?"

--

Spotify wrapped season is really popular broadly (though not so much around here) to the point that I find it very annoying since you apparently have to download the app to see wrapped??? I hate this season every year.

I use spotify via a browser, grudgingly, because some friends' fun guess-the-song stuff is on there. I had to use it at the fertility clinic because that's what they use to play music while injecting you with eggs. (I picked Mono if anyone is curious, but given how insanely painful being inflated with saline was, I should probably have picked D-2. I just thought it wasn't available because Spotify used to NOT FUCKING HAVE most of BTS' side projects because Spotify sucks donkey balls. Have I mentioned lately how much I resent the ubiquity of this piece of garbage? Have I?)

The thing that gets me that I hadn't quite worked out until just now is that 100 songs is the precise right amount to feel huge and significant without actually being so. Top 100 albums or artists is still an illusion of knowing what someone listens to. (Spotify has been improving, but they still routinely don't have the stuff I want.) But at least there, by the time you get to my 100th most listened to artist for a year, you might have some kind of picture of what I listen to.

Now, if you only listen to prog rock on vinyl, maybe your top 100 songs represent about 50 albums. >:D But let's say you're listening to some modern albums with bonus tracks and shit on Spotify. Your top 100 might be March When I Broke Up And Listened To The Same Five Albums Day And Night. No matter how diverse and interesting the rest of your musical diet, your bland-ass breakup playlist is now ninety out of one hundred songs on your Spotify Wrapped for this year.

I think it's that previously not totally conscious thought about how many 100 songs really is that was annoying me until just now.

Sure, it's just one scenario, but I think this sense of what 100 songs means is what's really annoying me about how people go on about Wrapped. Not just here and about racism: All the mainstream blathering about Wrapped annoys the shit out of me too every damn year.

It's a little like kudos. The top 200-500 most kudosed things in a big fandom may well show some pattern I find interesting. The top 100 most kudosed things show that people like that daily updating omegaverse crossover ship epic with Tony Stark.

Okay, okay, with kudos, you could probably exclude the top 10-30 depending on fandom size, but you know what I mean. Your last 100 fics read mean little, IMO. Your last 100 fandoms read, which is likely to be significantly more than 100 fics, is interesting to me.

It's my usual Numbers Are Deceptive complaint about how people love stats but do not contextualize things well.

[not-wholly-unheroic]

A Comparative Analysis of Hook’s Ship and Cabin in Popular Media Portrayals

Part 4: Peter Pan (2003)

P.J. Hogan’s 2003 film is full of life and color, and Isaacs’ Hook is likewise a colorful character who, though grounded in reality, most definitely has a flair for the dramatic and a taste for the finer things in life.

Like the other Hooks we have seen thus far, Isaacs’ Jolly Roger appears to be the large stereotypical pirate ship that all children think of, despite the impracticality of a slower vessel in actual piracy. (By this point, I think we should just assume that all Hooks go for form over function when it comes to their choice of ship.) It’s a gorgeous ship, and I do wish we got more close-ups of the outside of this particular Roger so we could see more of what’s going on with all the decorative work on the outside of the cabin and the figurehead, etc. One thing, though, that stands out about this ship is that the mainsail itself has a giant skull and crossed swords on it. This would be completely impractical for any actual ship, as the enemy would see them coming and know they were pirates right off the bat…lending credence to the idea that this ship (and this Hook) may be deeply shaped by the children’s imagination. Then again…what else should we expect of a pirate ship whose name itself is the Jolly Roger?

The shots we get of the inside of Isaacs Hook’s cabin reveal the living space of a man who is accustomed to a decadent lifestyle but not so over-the-top as to be entirely unrealistic. While his beautifully decorated harpsichord is the centerpiece of the room, we also notice that he has several tables, a couch, and a globe.

This is about all we can tell from the in-film shots of the cabin, but some promotional material and a pirate-themed hotel that purchased a few set pieces from the film and set up their own room to mimic Hook’s can give us a few ideas about what the rest of the cabin might look like. (Big shout-out to @annabellioncourt for providing several of these bonus material images!)

In the one promotional photo, there is what looks like a lute, perhaps, in the background. I also love the little detail of the skull and crossbones on the candle stand…and his li’l stripey socks.

Here we can see the full-sized bed with a gun and what looks like it might be an Eton crest over it. (Note that if you pay close attention in Hook’s intro scene in the film, you will actually see that the tattoo on his left arm is an Eton crest as well.)

Isaacs Hook also has a self-portrait in his cabin, it seems…which interestingly has a date on the frame of 1742. This is about the most specific we get with ANY Hook as far as time period goes. This is after the Golden Age of Piracy had really already come to an end, though it’s technically possible he might still have been “Blackbeard’s bosun” depending on his age, as Blackbeard’s career ended in 1718 in a battle off Ocracoke Island, NC. Isaacs himself was around 40 years old when the filming was done, so if we want to assume Hook was around the same age when he came to Neverland and the portrait was done shortly before then, he would have been around 16 at the time of Blackbeard’s downfall. A bit young but…it’s possible if he started his career at sea early. Cabin boys usually started out around age 12 but could be as young as 8-ish on occasion. However…this wouldn’t really track with Hook being an Eton student. Assuming he actually graduated, he would have been at the school until he turned 18. So while Isaacs Hook may have very well been a sailor or even more specially a pirate prior to Neverland…he likely wasn’t a peer of Blackbeard or the other more well-known pirates of the early 1700s.

One last thing that is interesting to me is that in addition to the more standard weapons/tools like chains, guns, and boarding axes that we see in some shots, this version of Hook keeps what looks like an entire small cabinet of various tinctures and powders. At least the one of them which he removes is poison, but one wonders….are they all different kinds of poison? Or are some, perhaps, medicinal in nature or for recreational use?

As a whole, Isaacs’ Hook is, I think, perhaps one of the most realistic portrayals of the character. While there are some highly fanciful aspects to his ship—like the giant skull on the mainsail—much of his personal space has the lavish furnishings one might expect of someone with an aristocratic background without feeling too entirely impractical. Add to that a concrete date on the portrait, and I’d say this Hook is more grounded in reality than nearly any of the others we’ve encountered so far.

[edenprime]

if u haven't read it a lot of liara's more action-oriented shift was told in the comics. the shadow broker DLC didn't quite capture how much effort she went thru to secure shep's body and how big feron's role. i personally welcome the change and while i like archeologist liara i think her ME1 characterization is so superficial. she's mostly just a fan girl. the shift is abrupt but it's nice that in ME2 she has her own thing going on outside shepard cos i believe the writers wrote her as the canon love interest in mind so her character often suffers from the fangirl disease. i think a lot of people in the fandom dislike how the game shove her to us so much. which is funny since another famous shepard ship is garrus, who's equally as pushed as liara and is just as much of a shep fan. it's just that he's a guy so he doesn't suffer sexist hate.

I haven't read/seen anything outside the games, no! I've been thinking of getting into that, but first I'd like to sort out all of my feelings wrt the main event - the games. I feel like if I got into the "peripheric" media, it could maybe influence how I view the games and i want to analyze those by themselves (i'm thinking i'll finish this playthrough + another one in which i might or might not play as mshep) and then see about everything else. Thank you for the rec, though! I knew there was extra stuff about tali and garrus but this is the first i'm hearing about liara <3

And well... let's be real, most of the squad is part of the Shepard fan club, even those that can't be romanced, like Grunt and Wrex. The fact that Shepard gets a breeding request in Tuchanka after completing grunt's loyalty mission is like the most Mary Sue thing ever (and I don't necessarily mean this in a bad way). The asari, sex symbols of the galaxy, are throwing themselves at them left and right (Liara, Shiala, arguably Sha'ira, Morinth...). Shepard is the main character, everyone wants a piece of them. It's one of the entertaining parts of the games (or at least I have a lot of fun with it, if maybe a little bit ironically).

I suppose people might single out Liara because she's the one whose actions are the most extreme, and thus it crosses the line from "cute" to "creepy", but she's not the only one. Legion literally wears the armor off their dead body. As I said in my post, maybe her actions and/or attitude aren't 100% justifiable, but they are understandable.

I'm not sure about the game pushing Garrus as a love interest (I think the game itself is skeptical of the player making this choice, like when Shepard says she "can't believe she finds comfort in the arms of a turian" or something like that), but I do think he's definitely meant to be one of the characters that's most influenced by Shepard, regardless of gender.

Personally, I think him being so popular a choice (at least on Tumblr, which has a mostly female userbase compared to other social media) is due to him being a man, yes, but not necessarily because of sexism (or not always), but because het ships are farrrr more popular than femslash. Also, it's very clear how much he respects Shepard in basically every aspect, and it's incredibly fucking rare to see a het relationship in such equal ground, especially with a """bad guy""" lmao. (though ME in general does quite good in that regard I think, the romances in general are not toxic™️ or unequal) (mostly... ignoring that Shepard is basically everyone's boss... lol).

I completely agree that there's a double standard in how female characters are expected to behave vs male ones, and from what i've seen Liara is 100% a victim of this (I had the very bad idea of reading some threads on reddit...yikes). I don't know the fandom enough to know how it compares in relation to Garrus in particular, though, or if there's a correlation between Shakarian fans and Liara haters.

[mirroredmemoriez]

GABRIELA SAW X THINKS AND FEELS

Got bored so it's time to yap about Saw characters, today on the chopping block is Gabriela! Mainly Gabriela is compared with either Adam or Amanda, for similar and also different reasons. When it comes to the comparisons, with Adam it's usually down to the fact she and him both ''won'' their traps but were both still killed at the end (Also their wet pathetic demeanour said with all the love)- Then with Amanda, it's how both were drug addicts... Amanda basically seeing herself in Gabriela and seeming to root for her to win.

She's likely most peoples fav new character coming out of Saw X, she has the most content produced out of all of the other introduced characters for example. However, I think one thing I don't always agree with from my own perception is how she's painted to be almost an angel (Within the fandom)? Gabriela is by no means an evil person, it's very easy to be sympathetic to her situation and I don't think that's a bad thing. But also- SHE IS IN HER TRAP FOR A REASON? Just the same as Valentina and or Mateo or someone like Adam/Amanda.... But the reception she gets to me at least seems different. First I'll get it out of the way that this is slightly due to the fact she's shipped with Amanda, which I do believe shipping generally sometimes changes fandoms perceptions of characters or tries to put them more so into labels? With that said, I also am aware of power imbalances between the character (Such as Mateo being the one who supplies Gabriela oxycodone even if he states in the movie he will no longer be doing so going forward).

It's hard for me to exactly pinpoint and or explain why I think this is when I look at peoples portrayals slash discussions of her character... If I had to narrow it down, I believe it's because I feel as though people don't put the same effort into analysing characters and exploring the nuance of them when it isn't a VERY VERY beloved/popular one- And the argument to that is screen time, which does make sense? We get more of a feel for characters such as Amanda, John, Mark, Lawrence and yada yada, due to them being recurring characters... Then with Adam, even though he dies in the first movie? That first movie is solely focused on his and Lawrence's story mainly and not multiple characters, so the audience forms more of an attachment to him and his personality... However! I personally love looking at all characters so here I am. To me and likely everyone, Gabriela is a young and lost woman... She's basically going through what we as the audience would assume as the roughest patch of her life. She seems to be pretty early 20s and is obviously stated to be a drug addict, joining Cecilia's scam to feed her addiction with any money she gets paid with. Outside of this, we have no backstory to any previous occupations and or her education. Nor do we have any insight to friends and or family. This probably comes down to screen time and also the fact exploring any of this wasn't central to the story and the portrayal of her character- But generally, this paints Gabriela to be a quite isolated person outside of the scam. Personality wise, it goes with out saying Gabriela would have a manipulative streak from all the scamming and needing to be able to source drugs. Interacting with John she uses very basic speech to interact and lie to him, but in reality she seems to have no issue speaking fluently in English. It makes perfect sense with the knowledge she is apart of The Pederson Project, Cecilia wouldn't have chosen someone who's terrible at lying or putting on a façade at the end of the day. This doesn't make her an evil person though, as I've said before. Even though Gabriela is choosing to source her money by being a simple pawn in a big scam- She still holds noticeable humanity to a degree, seeing as she encourages those around her in traps and has a more considerable reaction to their deaths than compared to someone like Cecilia. I think when it comes down to the cancer patients before John, Gabriela had the thought process of out of sight out of mind and would probably not dwell too much on the ethics of what she was doing.

I think one thing for her character I'd have wished to see, is more interactions with people outside of a drug transaction and scamming an old man.... Oh and obviously outside of being in a death trap too- It isn't exactly an issue, but I think people spend too much time comparing or labelling Gabriela's character as a version of Adam or Amanda, more so than her being a separate person? Don't get me wrong, she very much so is a good comparison to make between the previously stated characters. However, I think I more so see her as a domino effect and even a symbol than being very alike to Amanda or Adam. Gabriela is one of the reasons Amanda starts losing belief in John's philosophy, which through that results in her murdering Adam.... In these ways? Amanda becomes what Cecilia was in that moment and within Saw X, Cecilia and Gabriela were a minor foil for John and Amanda too.

There are so many what ifs with her character and how that would impact the story moving forwards. What would've happened if Gabriela had just died in her trap? What would've happened if she survived her trap- Or if she had never been tested in the first place. She as a character is one of the biggest stepping stones (whistles at myself) in the franchise when it comes to the outcomes of others, as her death is a catalyst to Amanda's future erratic behaviour and killings.

But enough about Adam and Amanda- I can't likely explain this well either, but Gabriela gives off Laura Hunter vibes so much... And both of these women I just feel so bad for at the end of the day? Them and their fashionable coats... The wettest eyes and demeanour. Anyways! These are all just my opinions, you don't have to agree with them of course but I like yapping and discussing things like this, so feel free to reblog or comment if you've got your own opinion on what I've brought up here. If you've read this far down- Thanks? HAHAHAHHAH

[nomsfaultau]

Where did you get inspiration/information for most of the fae lore in Lord, What Fools These Mortals Be? I've been trying to find original sources, or at least the oldest ones, but most of the things I come across are from popular TV shows or novels ToT

Also, changelings! Were there any more in the Winter Court, aside from the ones claimed by Lady Death and Philza? Did they ever encounter Lady Death's not-children? Any hierarchial dynamics?

I believe inspiration was from a dream I had that was so funny I couldn’t stop laughing when I woke up. As for fae lore- I wrote the first chapter/most of the foundational stuff in the middle of the woods in a notebook. With nearly zero phone access and bad WiFi if then, Lords! is written with zero research. So most of the lore I’m using is just picked up from popular culture alas. I mixed in elements of dsmp fanon since Lady Death injects a lot of implications that can be run with in a far direction, and rolled with whatever answer was funniest/most horrifying for the given scene. Like a month or two later when I was back in society I did try to do some research on fae, cause in general I over research stuff I’m writing. And. Yeah. Information on fae folklore is absolutely scarce in a way that’s pretty sad to see. Kept getting wikis for YA series rip.

As for changelings, we don’t really see that Phil and Lady Death use them at least, since if they had used a changeling to replace Tommy then Technoblade and Wilbur wouldn’t have immediately gone after him. Potentially a day or two of delay as they figured that out. It feels like something they don’t bother with because they’re so powerful they don’t care if the family/community notices. It’s probably something weaker fae do to try and avoid consequences and angry humans.

This probably dips more into the lore of Lambs since changelings are a big part of that but, I figure most changelings within fae society are training to become replacements before getting shipped off never to return. So they likely have an envy/reproachful/studying approach to Technoblade and Wilbur, since those are the most displayed humans. If human they still are. Changelings are very unwanted by nature, and so they’re the dregs of fae society compared to the prized princes/pets. So MASSIVE gap there. At first Technoblade and Wilbur probably hate them for representing more children being taken just like Tommy. But over time they probably shift to more mainstream view of them as undesirable pawns. I bet Wilbur uses his position as ‘human’ to manipulate changeling’s, offering information on how to survive longer in the human world, or fueling their hunger or hatred on a case by case basis to get what he wants.

[kito-oh-kito]

c-can we hear abt Caseys fam🥹🥹

Yes you can!!!! Ily anon

Casey’s family is probably the most developed thing about my au which is a little embarrassing but oh well (it’s all under the more because there’s a lot 💀)

TW FOR CHILD ABUSE ON THE LAST BIT (and dying?) it’s not too bad but thought it’s better to be safe then sorry

Okay so this is Zach Casey’s older brother and his wife Mackenzie

This is also them but teens

They’re in their mid twenties and newly wed 🔥🔥(their ship name is either Zackenzie or machary) they’re highschool sweethearts and I love them soooo much

Zachs the golden child well he was he was supposed to be the next in line for his dads gang but he decided he didn’t want to be a leader but when he told his dad that well he wasn’t happy to say the least, that’s when he really realised how bad his dad had gotten he wasn’t the understanding man he once knew, so he moved out as soon as he could he bought an apartment for him and Mackenzie and soon they got married, he meets up with Casey every few months to help them with bills and such just because he loved his siblings too much to leave them completely even if they have low contact.

This is Bridget the little sister she’s 9 and a massive deva she’s a popular girl in her school she’s apart of the ‘girl posse’

Her hairs actually curly she just straightens it to fit in she bleaches her ends and wears makeup, she stays out the sun so she’s lighter but not for too long or she won’t look ‘tanned’ she’s ashamed that she was the only one of her signings to get her moms skin colour she’s more ashamed that she didn’t even know her according to her dad she look ‘just like her’ but in Bridget’s words she ‘absolutely hates being compared to that dead witch’ she never means what she says but you can’t really blame her she grew up the only girl the only dark skinned (Ik she doesn’t look super dark there shhh) person in the house and she feels like an outsider.

Enough angst heres a fun fact

She’s deadly allergic to pineapples yippie 😶

And then there’s their dad the ‘big boss’ the deadbeat dad who has a gang and tattooes the symbol onto his kids Arnold jones

Believe it or not this is the only drawing I have of him I don’t like drawing old people but oh well ‼️

This guy his everything phobic (not the scared kind) he hates everyone and everything he drinks ..a lot and this is with his kids are most likely going to go no contact he drinks and is the leader of (drumroll) the purple dragons and he forces that role onto his kids

He wasn’t always like this he used to be fine when it was just him, zach and his wife but when Casey came along she almost died of blood loss and the doctors said they couldn’t have any more kids of course that didn’t stop them and she ended up dying when Bridget was born that’s when he snapped and ended up snapping and let the alcohol and violence take over his life, zach was his first son the next leader and Bridget was just a baby so his anger was taken out on casey, he was only seven when his dad started taking out his anger on him he didn’t know why he was confused as any child would be but that didn’t stop Arnold he’d become a cruel man that didn’t care for him.

Of course it got better sure he still takes his anger out on casey sometimes but it’s not as bad at when he was younger send some rip Casey’s (the aggressiveness included getting Casey totted earlier then zach did, smacking and dislocated shoulder ermmm….save him!!!!)

Anyways that was my rant on the joneses hope you like them we much I like them lemme know if you want a casey post 😪 or any other characters

[mayskalih]

liking a character and liking the personal idea of them don't necessarily need to be connected. a lot of people like a design and then twitch the character from canon best example being naruto women. a lot of people like someone's design and some aspects but then create an alternative reality of said character in their heads.

that's what I meant for you and the unpopular characters you draw, since it's not common to hyperfixate in them like you do. it's also a common practice to pair them up with popular characters and shit on other more popular pairings with them along the way.

I don't mean it's you. I was simply curious about your opinion about it since you're like... how to say it? a black sheep?

say for example gojohime. utahime is very unpopular and looked down by the satosugu or fandom, yet you draw them. you also opt for utahime rather than nobara, shoko or maki which is impressive.

you draw less sakuino/inosaku compared to inohina or even sakuhina despite the best friends sakura and ino being incredibly popular but looked down by the small ino fandom compared to the sakura fandom or general fandom. sakura with kisame for example another example.

your art and asks sometimes pop up in my feed from my moots liking your posts and you get inosaku/sakuino hate or at least I've seen. a lot of preferences stem from personal headcanons rather than canon or common sense in people's heads so you get the weirdest asks.

you also draw plenty of kakashi or kakarin, obirin. sakura with other popular characters such as sasori or kakashi too. so it's balanced sakura-kakashi in popularity.

so yeah, it was simple curiosity.

Wow, that's a big analysis of my shipping choices, except for inosaku - you failed on that, they're canon for me.

What you mentioned about 'liking a character' are just two extremes of the same thing, in my opinion.

The only algorithm that my braincell uses when it comes to shipping is answering the question: 'do I like the two (or more) characters?'. If yes, then I will ship it. This is why stsg never appealed to me - I'm simply not a Geto fan.

Utahime is a very 'real' character: she fails, she likes to hit on booze with friends, she can't hide her emotions and is just a fun, simple teenage girl in her 30s. With Shoko it's harder, because I would end up exploring her alcohol addiction and I don't need more of it as I have plenty of this shit irl.

I don't care whatever the so-called collective fandom thinks or finds popular. I try not to interact with fandom at all when I'm enjoying new show, as it often ruins the whole experience. Shipping is not about 'common sense', it's about having fun and since we are all different, we will all have different preferences.

Finally, thank you for calling me a black sheep of the fandom <3

[doesyourshipmakeyouabadperson]

hi, twitter refugee here and i love this blog. it's a breath of fresh air compared to the "proship" side of one of my previous main fandoms. i feel like both "sides" on twitter generally just use the other stance to mean "anyone i don't like." the big "proship" people in that fandom were hypocrits who would call me anti for having a popular ship as a trigger (even tho i don't care who shipped it) while also calling me a "freak" for (properly tagged) caregiver/little and abdl content. i ended up receiving harassment from them at the same time as harassment from antis for being openly proship and shipping teacher x student, large age gaps and incest. it was just so confusing and frustrating because it was like "whatever happened to ignoring content you don't like? what proship literally means???" as people openly into shotacon would shittalk me over abdl like it doesn't make them sound hypocritical and then it felt so much like you were expected to like the most popular ship in the fandom (which was deemed as problematic by a lot of people) to be "proship" even tho a lot of antis like that ship too. it's just great to see that proship tumblr seems to be actually proship and anti-harassment rather than whatever weirdness twitter was

Oh my god, I am so sorry you've dealt with people like that. Those people sound insufferable, and that means a lot coming from me because I myself am very insufferable ❤️ /hj

Tbh it reminds me of when i saw some so-called "proshippers" (reminder: you can't be proship if you harass people over their shipping tastes!) call people "anti-lite" simply because they didn't support radqueer things like consang.

Consanguinamory is about IRL people! Shipping shipcest is fiction! Anti is not just a label you use for people who don't like the things you like or disagree with you about serious topics like IRL incest, wtf? I know this isn't specifically what this ask is about, but it's something I've actually seen with my own two eyeballs that blows my mind.

You are very welcome here, as are your boundaries. Unfortunately, we do have some of those types of people using the proship label here on tumblr, but thankfully, they aren't common. At least not in my experience. I hope you have a much better time here! ❤️

[wc-confessions]

ok apologies if this sounds like weirdo conspiracy theorist talk but like. i noticed smth abt the way the fandom has evolved in its treatment of nightcloud specifically and i think its. Interesting.

in the Beginning (aka the Early Days) ppl HATED her for similar reasons to squirrelflight, sandstorm, dovewing, and p much every female character that was widely disliked at the time. its no secret that warriors and its fandom have deeply misogynistic content and in the old days ESPECIALLY ppl would hate on a lot of female characters for petty things. in nightclouds case ppl hated her simply for "being mean to crowfeather" and getting in the way of leafcrow shipping. generic misogynist fandom bullshit u know how it is

then came the animatic "nightcloud's tale," which became popular enough for people to consider her in a different light. ofc, hating her was still the majority opinion in the fandom, but the video did portray her in a sympathetic light that got many ppl to change their minds.

then came the mid-late 2010s, when dr*ikinator became popular. they (do they still use they/them? iirc they do, apologies if they dont) happened to be a big nightcloud fan and crowfeather hater. they made what some ppl referred to as "nightcloud apologists" into a more popular subculture within the fandom, w more ppl realizing that she was unfairly hated. ofc, there was nothing wrong with that; liking nightcloud and hating crow was NOT what made dr*ik a bad person. but their later controversy does make the fandoms next phase more significant.

after dr*ik was called out, ppl began to react EXTREMELY harsh toward anyone who shared similar wc opinions to them, including liking night and hating crow, portraying night as sympathetic, or even jokingly calling crow cishet. this was when the term "nightcloud apologist" was officially coined, and it was used to negatively and subtly compare fans of nightcloud to dr*ik. basically, the mindset at the time was that if u did anything similar to dr*ik (like hcing a lot of wc characters as lgbt, sympathizing with mapleshade, or even shipping mothpool), you were just as bad as them. yknow, dr*ikinator, the person who sent p*rn to a minor and told others to off themselves for disagreeing w them. and obviously being compared to dr*ik is never a favorable thing, so nightcloud fans had to constantly deal with being called dr*ik supporters.

now, thankfully, the fandom is starting to come around again toward nightcloud, at least if this blog is any indication. i think ppl just needed time for the dust to settle after the dr*ik incident. tho ive always thought that logic was pretty stupid from the get-go. its like "ohh well THIS horrible person liked roses so if YOU like roses then youre JUST LIKE THEM" yknow??? anyway in conclusion nightcloud deserves better. nightcloud + nightcloud fans i am so fucking sorry for everything u had to go thru (also sorry this ask is so long jfc)

[wegonbealright-09]

Some people can't believe their beloved members might be manipulating their audience through shippers or fanservice but I think look at it through a different perspective.

They grew up in a dirty industry, we know the way some of these k-idols talk and act behind the scenes is awful. Burning ☀️ was one horrific thing that got exposed, who knows what else is going on? Then you have people like Bang PD selling their whole souls to get a piece of that western market. Apart from that most kpop idols engage in fanservice and queerbaiting. Don't tell me real people can't queerbait - if you're straight and pretending to kiss your group mate for your straight fans so that you'll get popularity, then what else should I call it? I am just very careful not to use the term for any specific idol because who knows if any of them are queer in real life but as an industry this is a problem. Plus we also have other groups in Hybe like new 👖 where they sexualise minors accidently or on purpose to get buzz or invoke controversy to get eyes on their comebacks. Just think about how many young entertainers have taken their own lives from that industry - it's a rotten place.

When you take into account everything that surrounds BTS that they must at least notice some of it. I actually believe the members are not evil or bad people. If JK or Tae push ships to advance their popularity even if its to the detriment of one of their friends (or girlfriends), they probably think they're not even doing 1% of anything as bad as what others surrounding them are doing.

Tl;dr when everyone around you is an a$$hole of epic proportions, you might think that the slightly manipulative things you're doing aren't a big deal. From their own perspective they might be thinking I'm an angel compared to all these other people. At least I'm not an actual bad person like xyz even though I'm now powerful enough to act like that. Even though as an outsider I find taekook irresponsible and bad friends, they probably don't think anything they do is harmful

I'm not making excuses exactly, I just wanted to say I don't think they're some evil mustache twirling people but I think their moral compass may not be the same as mine. I think it might also explain why Jimin himself let's everything they do slide and stays good friends with them because he also thinks compared to others in the industry these two are probably very decent guys even if they occasionally throw him under the bus.

I also think BTS essentially being good people is why it was difficult for them to claw their way up in the beginning and is maybe the reason Jimin is getting ostracized by his label for not playing their games. Or maybe I'm giving them too much credit. I wouldn't be surprised if that's the truth though

This is an interesting take anon

[pyropsychiccollector]

How would Makoto X Chisa happen? She is in your top five favorite Makoto pairings so I wouldn't be surprised if you got that planned out. Even if she is a teacher for another class.

Chisa-chan is special, yes. Similar to Toko, Ruruka, Sonia, Maki.... Essentially, canon gives them different love interests. Not an impossible obstacle to overcome, and it's practically a relief for girls like Chisa and Toko, considering the guys they initially like are... Well. Guys are allowed to turn a girl down if they're just not interested; there's no obligation to reciprocate. People are still free to ship Byakuya x Toko and Kyosuke x Chisa if they like. ... It's just we have as much a right to ship as we please, too.

... Long tangent there, but essentially, Kyosuke isn't really an obstacle for Makoto to overcome. Kyosuke is very driven, focused, and with the Tragedy no longer an issue (at least as we know it), Kyosuke is free to focus on his initial vision of an overseas campus for Hope's Peak (Vergil will be getting around to this campus within the next couple years). This means Chisa and Juzo are still at the original Hope's Peak, doing surveillance for him, but with the Kamukura Project derailed this leaves them with a lot of free time. So Chisa can remain focused on being a teacher. And naturally, in the Hope Universe, she's got classmates that are now teachers, so it's not like she's a lonely teacher with Class 77, fighting the good fight against the corrupt parts of Hope's Peak. :P

The nice thing about NaeChisa is that it's not so outlandish, age-wise. Yes, Chisa is a teacher, but she's only a few years older than Makoto (appr. 4 years older). She just needs to be kept in line when she gets affectionate with Makoto, save the dating stuff for after he graduates. But that's what her classmates are for, I suppose. :P But then again, her fellow teachers are in the same boat, pining after the Egg.... so they all keep each other in check. .... Yeah.

Makoto and Chisa just gravitate to each other because of their similar dispositions. Kind, caring, wanting to help others out, a bit lonely on the inside, feels small compared to their classmates.... Makoto becomes Chisa's favorite TA, and she's.... very affectionate with him. That's the thing about NaeChisa, you're not ultimately sure where the "love" begins and where it'll end. They click well together, and that's what matters. Makoto's not sure himself where and when he grew to love his teacher in.... that way.... But she's honestly near and dear to his heart, and he does want her happy. When he initially noticed his crush, he was fearful of stepping on toes because Chisa made it clear toward the beginning of the school year that she liked Kyosuke.... So he made an effort to bury/hide his crush...

But you know Makoto. Terrible liar, and Chisa's been aware of her crush for longer, and it's not that hard to see when Makoto's dwelling on something big like this. Poor guy can't hide his blushes to save his life~ Chisa tries to hold herself back for a little while, 'cause Ikue and other staff keep drilling it into her head "student-teacher relations are a no-no..." Alas. Chisa can't hold herself back forever, and it's not easy seeing Classes 78, 77, and 76 gun after the luckster. So popular~.... You're probably wondering about her crush for Kyosuke. ... Well, with Kyosuke over in America building his academy, he doesn't have time for romance. And he's always come off as more of a close friend than a lover; she made sure to get his blessing before pursing.... well, "someone else."

What? Did you think Chisa would tell her other best friend that she's crushing hard on a student????? Juzo already gave her an earful, catching sight of pictures of Makoto used as wallpapers on her phone. She doesn't want to test Kyosuke and see if he'll come running back to Japan because of this "development." She has his blessing, and this is enough. (❋•‿•❋)

Never mind that Kyosuke already knows because Juzo and all the other girls from Class 74 have already notified him about it, and he trusts them to keep Chisa from going.... overboard and getting fired because of relations with a student.

So, Chisa eventually drops her feelings like a bombshell onto Makoto, like all the other female teachers, on Valentine's Day. Even gets away with letting her luckster cop a feel while he's dazed from his face being smushed up in her fluffy pillows~.... Ikue puts her foot down, of course. None of the teachers are officially allowed to date Makoto until graduation.... But still~ Doesn't stop the girls from being chummy. ..... And sometimes risque with wearing no panties under their skirts. (❋•‿•❋)

[olderthannetfic]

https://www.tumblr.com/olderthannetfic/751011464262860800?source=share

Seeing the numbers compared, I realized that you are right, anon. It's a privilege to be able to write long fics, regardless of them thinking they're unable to write short fics because short fics are mostly scenes so it's not that long fic writers are incapable of writing short stories, deep down, they don't want to. Maybe it feels wrong for them since they've made an impression they always write long fics, maybe they find short fics less impressive, or believe that people won't give the same feedback as when they post something longer.

But I would like to argue that longer doesn't mean it has a plot. I've read 80k words of a character getting tortured with no chance of figuring things out or getting out of that situation and ended quite the same as the start. I've read 25k fic of characters just hogging. These fics have no stakes, no crisis, no buildup, no development, nothing just series of the same scene over and over with different sets or different positions.

Fanfic is free and that is why you encounter things that are, in a way, out of the box and technically are not allowed in the publishing world. But that's the beauty of it. Is it really that big of a gap for people who can write long fics vs people who can only write short fics? Because of how free fanfiction is, most things are okay to do, including only being able to write plotless or short.

One reason why I get jealous of other authors who manage to write longer fics than me is because I was too busy at the time. I found a good system for myself (dedicating a certain time to finish a chapter and then uploading them as I edit and so on) and you can build your own. I think with the right system, anyone can do it.

Pantsers, plotters, and hybrids are equal to me and it's true because how do you know that a person didn't just recycle the same plot they use from their previous fics, thus being able to write different versions of that story? We've seen the viral meme abt fic writers recycling the same thing and a lot of people admit to doing it. Does this mean they're mediocre or bad writers? It's not like that's against the TOS or illegal. Nobody paid us to keep making fresh new ground-breaking stories. The quality of a fanfic is decided from how you treat it. Do you still like it even after five years? Do you think about it sometimes? Do you feel so ashamed you'd rather put it in an anon collection or close your acc completely and orphan it? Do you wish for it gone to the point you delete every trace of it?

It's not from the amount of kudos, hits, or comments, tho yes it is easier to find good ones if you filter by kudos but there are lots of underrated ones and I've DNF a lot of fics that are not to my liking but have high-kudos because people keep rec-ing it. I want underrated fics to be more popular but not because it needs to be popular but because I hope to be in a community with more like-minded people. Fanfic has no publisher, we can't earn from it so traffic is merely informative so it's the community that matters the most.

In fact, to tell you the truth, after 17 years of being in ao3, I've curated my tag very specifically and stopped using the fandom tag and went straight to the ship tag. I also mostly rely on bookmarks, private collections, word from mouth of people I trust or believe to have the same writing style and taste as me. So it was very niche and limited.

Lots of stories have plots but not all must be in your favor so you gotta figure what you like to start. Are you team canon divergence or AU? what trope do you like? Telling someone to stop comparing is ineffective. We always compare because that's how we communicate. But people feel inferior because they don't feel worthy of themselves. If you start to know what you want, it's easier for you to write more. Whether you're still stuck on making 1k-2k, etc, at least you don't waste your time feeling sad or down and you keep writing. That'll help stimulate your brain and you will improve.

(Also maybe just don't listen to authors who you think are humblebragging. Mute or block them if you need to because I know, to some people who are in the same fandom, these types of attitude have more context to it. Idk abt anon, but in some cases maybe they were moots or the account was owned by another fan they've encountered on tumblr or other social media often, a BNF maybe, or just a popular author that other fans praise or talk about often, and things could get personal. Shit can go south quickly in the community tbh)

--

There's definitely an art to condensing one's thoughts into only a few words.

[mayasdeluca]

Sometimes I'm guilty of the thing I'm gonna 'complain' because I love to see my faves interacting on social media, I know it's not everything but I'm just a noisy girl and I wanna see. However it's been really annoying in the fandom how people are acting like a comment or like is an "approval" and the lack of it is "ignoring" or something bad.

Not being specific about just a post or person but in general it takes away from what really matters. Like even since D's directing posts people would do a checklist of likes and comments (and then we saw how people were supporting her even if they never interacted on insta) or lately treating likes to other actors as "indirects" or "fights" when we could just be enjoying their posts or what they're sharing.

I have been here since late 2020 and I don't know in what world some people were because since at least 2021/early 2022 we saw a big shift on everyone as the fandom grew and they changed their ways to interact in public and with the fans but besides early seasons where everyone was hanging out and interacting (as always is in the beginning lol) we only had the lives, takeovers and some random little "treats" for years.

Sorry for ranting here and I know everyone can feel how they want to but I saw so much little tales on how "it used to be" and a lot of poison that gets everyone spiriling and looking for stuff in every detail and I wish they were looking forward to Spampi episode to see her work and not so get anyone's else reaction to it.

Yeah I totally get that...honestly I see both sides of it and have been on both sides at different times. Like theres times when I feel one way and will miss seeing Danielle and Stefania interacting on social media and doing all the lives they used to and getting the BTS and all that but I also am aware that Covid made most of that happen and it gave us a false sense that it was going to continue being like that and it just so happened to be around the time that Marina was getting popular so the timing was just right for everything but even still of course people want to see the actresses of their favorite ships interacting. We know they're close, we know they spend time together on set and hang out and all of those things but it's different than actually getting to see it and this is not me trying to sound entitled, it's just part of the fun in being in fandom.

But then I also get the side of people putting way too much into it and thinking it means all these different things and to go as far as making checklists like you said and comparing who said what and who didn't do this for this person is just crazy. Like obviously there's things that are going to happen that are going to make people wonder stuff but at the end of the day we truly don't know these people or how they really interact with each other because they are always in control of how they interact in public and what they choose to share on social media with us. It's a shame that a lot of it ends up being about the drama of it all and what someone did for this person and not that person as opposed to actually to just enjoying the content that is actually being shared.

It's just the unfortunate part of a fandom I suppose because it happens in pretty much all of them. Instead of just getting to enjoy the ride and soaking in what does get shared with us there's a ton of speculation and drama especially once boundaries are crossed and people have to start pulling away because of it and then things start to shift.

[hollysoda]

I rant about Mario Kart Wii because I can

So the final wave of the Mario Kart 8 booster course pass is coming out next week and obviously I am super excited for it!! The new courses look awesome, and I can’t wait to try out the new characters, but since it’s the last wave I am a bit sad as well. There were so many courses that deserved to be remade into Mario Kart 8, but what was the roster mostly made up of instead?

Wii tracks

I do love Mario Kart Wii with all of my heart, it was my first Mario Kart experience and one of the first video games I ever played as a child, but holy shit. It got WAYYY too much representation

Here’s a list of all Mario Kart Wii nitro tracks in Mario Kart 8

Base game + WiiU DLC:

Moo Moo Meadows

Grumble Volcano

Wario’s Goldmine

DLC:

Coconut Mall

Mushroom Gorge

Maple Treeway

DK’s Snowboard Cross

Moonview Highway

Koopa Cape

Daisy Circuit

Rainbow Road

Mario Kart Wii tracks not in the game:

Luigi Circuit

Toads Factory

Mario Circuit

Dry Dry Ruins

Bowser’s Castle

So out of the 16 nitro Wii courses only 5 didn’t make it into the game, which is kind of crazy. Not to mention all the retro tracks that were in Wii that also made it to MK8, like Peach Gardens (DS) and Waluigi Stadium (GCN)

How does that compare to the other games then?

Tour - 14 tracks (17 if counting Merry Mountain, Ninja Hideaway and Sky-High Sundae but tbh the amount of Tour tracks is just as much of a problem as Wii tracks)

Wii - 11 tracks

3DS - 8 tracks

GBA - 8 tracks

DS - 7 tracks

GCN - 7 tracks

N64 - 6 tracks

SNES - 4 tracks

That’s a pretty big difference.

Personally, to level out the numbers and bring back some tracks that deserved to be remade, I would drop Mushroom Gorge and Koopa Cape from the mix. Both were retro courses in MK7, and Mushroom Gorge has barely changed between MK7 and MK8, apart from one mushroom being removed and a higher quality version of the theme. Koopa Cape has had some minor changes: the underwater pipe is now antigravity and the MK8 version has mixed the gliders from MK7 with the half pipes from the original, but I just don’t think it needed it?

Another track that I’m not sure on is Moonview Highway. I love Moonview Highway, but wha are some other non-Tour city tracks with moving vehicles that have only been remade once/have never been remade? Mushroom Bridge and Mushroom City from Double Dash, though I’m leaning more towards Mushroom City since it has a similar vibe to Moonview Highway and has never been remade, whereas Mushroom Bridge was in MKDS.

I think Wario’s Galleon from MK7 would be a good stand in for Koopa Cape. Although it’s far from a tropical and upbeat track, it’s mostly water based, and even though it’s not one of my favourite 3DS tracks I think it would vastly benefit from antigravity since it’s layout already has some nearly vertical climbs. I was actually hoping for this track over Rosalina’s Ice World in the latest wave

As for Mushroom Gorge, I would put Airship Fortress in its place. There aren’t many similarities between the two, but goddamn it I just want a remake of this track is that too much to ask? It was my favourite DS track when I was younger, and I know it was in MK7 like Mushroom Gorge but I can actually see some improvements to be made!! Turn the spiralling tower into antigravity!! Have some singing Shy Guys added to the music because I know for a damn fact they’d be sitting inside the ship!! Add some really strong electric guitars to the music as well while you’re at it!! Nintendo are missing out big time give us Airship Fortress cowards!!

If they were still insistent on giving us 11 Wii courses at least bring back ones which have never been remade before. Toad’s Factory is an obvious choice. It’s a fan favourite and just a super cool track overall. It’s honestly a crime that it’s been stuck in MKWii all these years. Honestly Dry Dry Ruins and Bowser’s Castle could also be good for a remake but they’re nowhere near as popular

Other tracks that deserved to be included, in my very biased opinion, are: Wuhu Island Loop/Wuhu Mountain Loop, Shy Guy Bazaar, Luigi’s Mansion, Delfino Square, Dino Dino Jungle, Rainbow Road GCN, Shy Guy Beach (yeah I could just go on-)

To sum it up, Mario Kart Wii gets too much spotlight and other courses deserved a remake more than some of theirs. Also, I’m a nerd with a Mario Kart fixation, if you couldn’t tell already

[lighthousegod]

Hello and welcome to my rant from my time on Stranger Things Steddie and Friends Twitter for the past few months.

K I'm really pissed but its fine I wrote this all before the poll thing. Now I just. Can't get rid of it. (Me at tumblr headquarters right fucking now)

Anyway. Sorry for the interruption.

The fact that I've seen several ST fans claim most people who like steddie are fetishizing them is already shitty, but what makes it even more shitty is that they focus on them being two white cis guys fetishized by "white girls".

To reference the two white cis guys first, yeah, you got me there. That really is all those two are in the show. And if you wanna talk representation, well shit! Let's do it! Out of the main cast, we have 3 people of color: Lucas, Erica, and Argyle. Lucas is much too young to be in a relationship with either of them and already has one of his own, and Erica is ten years old. Now, I love Argyle, but he was written to be a comic relief character that had no arc and never met either of them. I think that's a wasted opportunity, Eduardo is great and would've done well as a fully fleshed out character, and there is a conversation to be had about whether that character would've been received the same way Eddie was being a white guy. But the thing is, he was never even CAST as a character who could be compared with Eddie- again, his whole character was "funny stoner." THAT is fucked, and people have definitely decided to ignore that fanon. In fact, Jargyle has become a pretty well known ship! Weirdly enough, the content I've seen of them has majorly been from people who also ship steddie! It isn't as popular as Steddie, though, and I don't think that's ONLY bc of half of the ship has less lore than eddie. There definitely is at least some internal bias us white queer folks should take into account when considering what ships we focus on in media.

However, I don't think that's why it's being brought up. I don't think I read tweets from lesbians with she/her in their bios condemning all us steddie ppl who just ship it because "they're two white guys we can fetishize for being in an mlm relationship" bc they're trying to be good allies. That COMPLETELY disregards that transmasc and nonbinary people (ESPECIALLY transmasc people of color) make a BIG chunk of the steddie fandom. Crazy, it's almost like Eddie was written to represent an outcast and literally GOT TARGETED BY CHRISTIANS and a bunch of people in marginalized communities related to his struggles! Except oh, yeah, that'd exactly what happened. And yeah, okay, he's a white guy and it IS pretty shitty that they cast a white dude to represent outcasts in general, but the people talking shit are watching the SAME DAMN SHOW that has a huge fucking cast and still has minimal representation. Fuck, man, Caleb McLaughlin has faced SO MUCH hate from assholes "fans" as the only black main character. Why the hell are people using that very real issue to back their shitty arguments against a gay ship on twitter?

Again, I wanna preface that 90% of these kinds of comments come from lesbians and bisexual people with she/her or she/they in the bio. I thought yall were COOL with the gay and trans people. Yall ARE queer people. Some of them were even big Ronance or Rovickie fans! YALL. WHY IS FRIENDLY FIRE ON??

A lot of this argument is backed by claims that steddie fans ignore canon queer rep, too, and I just don't understand that.

I know. Robin is representation. I am SO HAPPY to have her, and I'm so happy that Maya pushed for it, and as a transmasc person who was not out at the time and likes girls, I felt very seen when watching her coming out scene with Steve. However, I know I don't fully understand the lesbian experience as someone who likes guys too. I know Robin means a lot to wlw fans, especially lesbians. There have been instances where steddies have co-opted that scene to make it about steddie, and that is not okay. (I've never SEEN this happen, but I've seen people talk about it. All the steddie guys on Twitter that I follow were making it pretty clear that that was not cool and pretty fuckin lesbiphobic. I agree, whoever did that, fuck them. Wlw and specifically lesbian wlw relationships have very little rep and Netflix canceled all their shows and it's super fucked.) But besides this, I actually see a LOT of steddie fans who very much love Robin's character. Most of the steddie artists and fic writers I know are also ronance, rovickie, and/or Buckingham creators. A lot of them are wlw themselves!

//I should also note that Will is canonically gay now and I'm super excited, but truly, I just don't see as much appeal in byler because they're so much younger than me now. I totally love Will as a character, and I was around the kids' ages when the first season came out, but I'm in college now. I relate a lot more to the older kids! I'm real happy to have will as mlm rep and I hope he gets his moment in s5. I just didn't latch onto him and Mike the way I did Steve and Eddie! We all got preferences and that's fine.//

All this to say, I'm just so tired of Twitter, man. I just saw a post about how many cis women who claiming its "ableism" to say they have to be around anyone who identifies as masculine, including queer men, queer mascs, cis men of color, butch lesbians, etc. And I've seen a lot of that lately too. It's just so weird to see someone who identifies as a queer woman talk shit abt a steddie fan with a hellcheer shipper.

(man I can't even get into that rn. Chrissy and Eddie shippers in ST fandom are a whole other bout of drama. I've seen steddies be pretty nasty on the issue toward bi women who ship that bc of age difference, which I never really understood because eddie has no confirmed age?? Like idk how he can be a super senior AND 17 on his missing poster but whatever, I'm not stressing abt that as long as you dont make them have a weird age gap on purpose. Hell, I even thought they were love interests at first, too. But DAMN I've seen some hellcheer people that hate steddie. None of this justification type shit either, they just say "it doesn't make sense" and "I'm scared of steddie" and "they ruined the fandom and eddies character" like bro that's literally homophobia. like oogily boogily gay people jumpscare homophobia. So I just don't talk to those guys usually.)

Whatever abt the straight ppl tho they're never gonna get my weird gay stuff. But what SUCKS is when it's other gay people saying this stuff. Like what about mlm wlw solidarity man? Why do I gotta see a rovickie stan and a hellcheer girl talking abt how steddie shippers are all misogynistic and hate women?? Esp when so many are transmasc?? It's getting weird and TERF-y and I just. I wish we were cool again. ST is abt outcasts at the end of the day, it's why we root for them and relate to them. There aren't even a lot of queer people from the 80s around because of the kinda hatred people like us face. Not to mention racism, ableism, misogyny, all of it. For centuries. The people up top all hate us. We gotta have each other's backs and twitter is making us INSANE instead. God.

Anyway I'm gonna go watch the mandalorian now later losers.

[katyspersonal]

Heyo! How about sharing some Bloodborne ships opinions/ideas? It's been a while since you talked about those!

To be honest, 'Bloodborne ships' is a concept so boundless and infinite that 'bottomless Sea' compared to it is just a pathetic shallow puddle, because in my monkey brain a BB ship is any character + any character out of consenting adults who are not blood related (and even in THAT case you'll probably have ghosts of people who ship Maria with Annalise trashing your pots at night at least once *eyesroll*). So I think, for the sake of this post having a start AND an end, I'll only touch upon "acknowledged" ships.

THAT'S RIGHT FOLKS, time to recall what is POPULAR! OOOooooOOOOoooooOOOHHHH-

WHO LIVES IN THE RESEARCH HALL UNDER THE SEA?

MAAAAARIAAADELINE

Mariadeline - I am always back and forth on this ship. It is shifting between 'it doesn't seem to have came to fruition in canon since Adeline addresses Maria as her superior, and also the ship is better in Adeline's Blood Saint stage since the horror of the Research Hall doesn't fit for some uwu fluff, and Adeline seems to be too carried by Arcane to care for simple human happiness anymore' and 'since WHEN canon "evidence" and timeline could stand in the way of imagination and simply enjoying the ideas?'. A struggle between my brain and my pp..... I think I like pretty much any way to go about this ship, but in my heart it will always be superior as attraction that not only never been resolved, but also has been a breaking point for Maria, with Adeline dying in her arms no less.

I do think they'd make a cute dynamic, it is absolutely the case where one does full autistic ramblings about their special interest (Adeline) and another just listens (Maria). I also do think they both suck at being direct about their feelings and every AU where they DID date needs the third party as a wingman xD

Laudwig (or Holyvicar, as I see often) - I do not have strong feelings on this ship? My engagement with this ship is passive (ie I just see fanart of it on my dashboard/timeline and might like it). It has a huge depth and drama potential, though! Which one became the beast first and how another reacted? How much Ludwig really knew about the Healing Church's nasty secrets; how much Laurence was hiding from him about their impending doom in the name of potential progress? I can say whereas Logarius is arguably a more useful 'pawn' in the grand plans, Ludwig's more knightly, 'naive' honor could more likely win Laurence over. I actually wrote my interpretation of the ship once! Observe:

Not a flawless ship, as Laurence has to keep many skeletons in his closet and Ludwig would have been sick if he learned HALF of the shit Laurence has to hide… Besides, there is no saying if Ludwig would spare Laurence should his precious moon sword call for hurting him. This relationship is more of a game with neigher side being allowed into depths of another's soul. However, despite his higher status, Laurence would be the one feeling more shy, helpless and red in the face because Ludwig is so big and strong and radiates hope and joy, whereas Ludwig would be more of passionate no-insecurity caring lover that had already organized a pretty date before Laurence even as much as had a THOUGHT about one. Alas with canon context in mind, this "ship" works better as a plot device to show messed up things about Church and things people gotten themselves into, to the point of no longer being allowed deep, genuine bonds.

Gehrmaurence (???) - This is canon because Gehrman basically moans his name in his sleep lol

Ok ok or OK seriously tho! I am kind of rooting for this ship and am always happy to see it recognised, I just, yet again, am passive about it and just 'like it when I see it'. It is undeniable that Laurence and Gehrman were close. Gehrman trusted Laurence enough to give himself to the "insidious Moon" in faith that Laurence WILL succeed at his designs while he sustains the Hunt for him, and WILL free him then. I do think that realising he has been failing Gehrman miserably was one of Laurence's most horrible, devastating fears when beasthood was taking him over, maybe even the last cry of his humanity. But it is that situation where character can share very deep and intimate bond without romantic involvement and it is still good; I'll certainly take them as 'friends doomed by the narrative' JUST as willingly as 'lovers doomed by the narrative'.

Gehrmaria - I do not even know whether I want to share my honest feelings about this one... lol OF COURSE I DO because nobody read the post to this point except for you anyway! xD Alright, but upon my arrival in the fandom, when I was digging up my own lore and sometimes comparing it to the fandom popular one, I was content with the idea that Doll creation was Kinda Sus and Gehrman was a bit creepy. Then I found Bellringermal's blog and was like 'OMG CURSED but you go girl!!!!!!'. Then I started to slowly develop the enjoyment of the ship that I desperately tried to deny and suppress because, again, back then I saw Gehrman as a creep, so I just blamed Mal

Yo but do you remember what actually triggered my researcher streak? OH LAURENCE OF COURSE YOU REMEMBER-

Right, I've had that dream about a snow/ice Great One attacking altered Yharnam, several characters gathering in a castle built-in the mountain, Rom being pregnant from Simon (wtf!!!!!!!) and… Maria was there too. There was that brief moment where Gehrman was awkwardly trying to see her from the shadows and someone asked Maria like 'hey who is that guy following you everywhere :т', from which Gehrman got scared and chickened away, and Maria was like '…nobody important'.

So after that time I woke up with the strange +15 Insight effect, because something about her intonation, her face and the context made me perceive the depth to which that bond went, and the complexity of her resentment. You know how in the dreams you sometimes can just... 'perceive' feelings and information that wasn't directly said? Telepathy. Makes sense, because dreams happen in the brain... or... DO THEY? So, I knew I NEEDED to grasp that exact sentiment and find out WHAT Maria was feeling in my dream. It felt significant. So that day I dived EXTRA deep into research and wrote the 'Let's analyze Gehrman, Maria and the Doll' ( x ) that not only is my real, genuine take on the relationship, but also the girls liked it and some changed previously harshly negative opinion on Gehrman.

I still wish I never poked my nose deeper on the matter and things just stayed that way, because this is the only controversial ship in the fandom and it constantly brings out the worst in fans. Letting people enjoy their ship and have their takes on the old man is far too much to ask from a western community, so for every toxic, mean-spirited, disrespectful hiss towards Gehrmaria shippers, I kept discovering new counter-evidence, new ways to see Maria and new redeeming qualities about Gehrman! Until I've lost the sight of whether I myself actually SHIP it, started to root for this ship to pick-up and prosper as a matter of 'cool people keep winning', lost the creepy but so needed 'darkness' of this ship as a concept... And although PLENTY of people thanked me for "saving" Gehrman's ass and the ship as a concept (not exaggerating), sometimes I wonder: would not it have been better to just leave things as they were and enjoy my own thing in secluded, individualist way?

Pfffft LMAO mfw you came to listen about ship dramas, but ended up listening about my PERSONAL dramas XD But yeah, my interpretation here is pretty darn simple. Maria might have had a crush but by now is greatly disappointed - based on Gehrman's curiosity that WAS digging through corpses to seek eyes for Willem, but she is disappointed in herself more than in him, he taught her a great deal but she also got her gentler, sweeter side practically ruined by the hunt, he liked her but never dared to approach her because of age gap and he just felt undeserving, he could not even dream of her because of his own regrets and crashing realisation of how much he failed her - including not being there for her to prevent her Minecraft… Another case of ship that never came to fruition in canon. But in an AU where it did happen, I think it would be bittersweet; Gehrman is older and beaten up by hard life, and is a callous brick in emotional situations at times, so their relationship would know some conflicts; not a bad thing, arguments are normal! They're both tough outside and gentle inside, both are capable of great self-sacrifice but also of great war crimes, lol. But Gehrman is just… a bit dead inside? They have enough in common to get along, but not enough to get bored by each other.

Valmura/Valtmura/whatever - Funny enough, they do somewhat remind me of how Gehrmaria is in my head! The 'dead inside', somewhat cruel and callous murderous mentor figure that Seen Some Shit before and might be intimidating with how far he goes and his sensitive, emotional, slightly naive, passionate student with great knightly chivalry that is effectively broken by walking this mentor's path, LOL.

So the same sort of relationship that is not ideal and almost certainly is canonically SCREWED, only Valtr pulls his big boy pants and sucks the grief up instead of succumbing to despair to the point of madness. I think this is a nice ship, the dynamic is great! Just the perfect balance of 'similar enough to get along but enough differences to have productive conflicts and not be bored' I do not find very often! (Also yes I keep completely disregarding power imbalance of mentor/student for both this ship and previous one, I hope ya'll are still hooked </3 )

Gasgoryk - I used to dislike this ship, actually! No shit, outright going 'grrrrrrr' seeing it because it reminded me too much of my internet childhood during my 12-13 years where the girls would always neglect the male character's canon crush/lover/wife to not "stand in the way" for their gay ship! It just felt like Viola was pushed aside despite being mother of Gasc's children...? And I thought the two ships could not coexist because Henryk MUST be Viola's father (source: younger daughter mentioning 'grandpa'). But I've since seen plenty of good interpretations, justifications for 'grandpa' commentary, and all in all, setting events in the past and AUs still exist! I just don't mind by now, I simply prefer Gascola more! But I think I enjoy the thought that Henryk might have had silent crush on Gascoigne that he never delivered and it was too late when he got engaged with his daughter; but the pain was forgotten when the first child was born!

Gascola - A lot to explore, a lot to speculate (wholesome and not much), doomed by narrative, IS CANON! Everything I love. Will always prefer this ship to Gascoryk or Violeen because... canon... guys this is SUPER canon... and they also have children, guys you don't understand, it is ACTUAL family... (too bad they all fucking die lol)

Micorom/Romicolash/whatever - This, my fellas, was my very first ship when I poked my nose in Bloodborne! I clicked with Rom so much almost instantly, and Mal was my first exposure to the ship, as well! I thought absolutely nothing could be more fun. Back then, my Rom had a different personality (simply she was sassy, bitter and a bit tired from being overworked by Micolash and Willem). I was fully prepared to become a Micorom type of fan and give this ship soooooooooo. muuuuuuuuch. CONTENT. ...but at some point I saw this:

And EVERYTHING clicked into place.

So yes, Rom being his sister is my official idea now. But- honestly, this is still such a great ship as a concept! It feels like no matter how Rom's personality is written, the two could have a great dynamic! And what is the outcome? Does Micolash end up being jealous and resentful because he hates to see the girlboss win- I mean, that Rom ascended and he didn't? Or he simply misses her and hopes to JOIN her when he ascends? I just don't know what a mf would have to do to not make a ship like this work imo, because these characters are just cursed to have The Dynamic TM no matter what. I definitely cheer people who ship it... Do what I can't! *sobs*

Hunter x Doll -

Ok ok ok listen dfhhdshdf With Bloodborne, everything depends on the interpretation, so it is not excluded there are ways to make this work! But this is just certainly not my thing.

Doll is an interesting case though, because like I said before, I think soul of Maria DOES live in her - without memories and sedated by the Moon, and Gehrman probably doesn't even know that himself. But when Doll is asleep - she is awake somewhere else and vice-versa, yadda yadda. However, before a hunter as much as looks at her the attracted way, she still needs to find a decent connection with her humanity. And there is her perception of her role as a servant for those hunters that will just stand and take it if they hit her. This is just... it is such a delicate matter that I can't even begin to cover it. It is not even the same level of delicate as complexities of mentor/student!

Rombrietas and Romurie/Yurrom - Perfect ships, nuff said. Though I feel like they are no longer 'popular' and are the thing of the begone era of the fandom (forgotten like Julie x Imposter). But from what I gathered, fandom of 2016-17 enjoyed them. I think that both of these are so likely that I can declare them canon-plaucible. As in, they could actually happen IN canon, not even in alternative/happier timeline. Ebrietas weeps the petrified corpse that looks like Rom when lyrics of her theme refer to Mensis ritual that Rom is covering; meanwhile, Yurie/Julie irrationally fights you on the way to Rom that even Willem encourages you to hunt... That's just two whole women to care about Rom deeply!

Of course not tryna push anything; Ebrietas could lament something else (maybe fate of humanity in general), and Julie could just be winning time for imposter Iosefka to do her experiments. But... why? x) I am very on board with the idea that Ebrietas worries about Rom all the way, seeing Rom becoming a 'spider' (association with Amygdalae and forbidden knowledge). She, who used to be a pawn of the Moon behind her, got in contact with her human side (as an adult celestial larvae), to the point of crying red blood when 'celestial' Kin have it drained of color normally.

AYYYYY that's why it is called 'Paleblood sky'!

Also an oldie:

She loved listening to Rom's 'epiphanies' and took her 100% seriously before it became mainstream x) Though Yurie was eager - getting angry at anyone that dared to criticize Rom even IF criticism was right! Meanwhile Rom always shared personal info with Yurie before anyone else. Plus they always had many shared interests - singing, nature, stars, bothering teachers long after classes are over with silly questions… Yurie having always been by Rom's side physically and mentally made her by effect keep Willem's teachings at heart even if other former Byrgenwerth students who joined Choir ditched those mostly. When Yurie ends up losing her sanity too, one thing she still holds onto is refusing to agree to harm Rom, completely ignoring Damian's pleading that not only it must be done, but also Rom will come out alright as a Great One.. really sad downfall.

Alfred x Crow - I am not very comfortable with the fact that Alfred... well... listen, it is a rather sensitive topic, so I will try to address it as discreet, subtly and maturely as possible. Alfred, as we can conclude... IS A GODDAMN RELIGIOUS FANATIC THAT THINKS VILEBLOODS SHOULD BE EXTERMINATED AS A KIND BECAUSE OF THE BLOOD HIS RELIGION DEEMS "IMPURE"!!! This ship is just certainly not my thing. I know Crow messed up a little by causing Eileen's death, but I am sure not even he is bad enough to deserve any advances by the guy that dehumanizes (devampirizes????) him by proxy. Sure, ship can fit into hatef4cking territory, but we talk about ship... like, relationship... relationshipies...

Ariadella - Fun fact! Despite this ship being basically the same problem as Alfred x Crow (except worse because Adella DOES kill Arianna), I used to like it initially! These two show the personalities that I can see as type of opposites that can mutually improve and complete one another! ...in a happier AU somewhere. But more often than not I am unhappy with the idea of "erasing" the fact that Adella considers Arianna worthy of being murdered in the scenario where she "dirties" the Hunter with her blood just for some shippy fluff. It is a back and forth for me, depending on how the ship is portrayed, and in what context!

Alfhunter - No strong feelings, it got nice art but I just shrug it off. Like, valid, but that's it. However, I do lay awake at nights and think:

"Man, but what could possibly make people see that psychotic religious fanatic beat a defenceless vampire queen into a bloody pulp and decide this is the most desirable man ever that they want to hook up their self-insert or mindchild with?" And you might ask: "Wait, doesn't line up, THIS is where you draw the line? But then how do you explain your crush on Micolash who's done much, MUCH worse things?". Well, I actually have an answer to that that will clarify your confusion and prove that I am not being a hypocrite! You see,

*gradually becomes transparent upon spinning around and teleports away like Rom*